Hearts of Twilight
by didsomeonesayventus
Summary: Xehannort's gone and Sora's a free Keyblade Master. Maybe a nice vacation touring the worlds is just what he needs. The problem is this world needs a little saving...
1. A New World

"Okay then, first solo mission as a Keyblade Master with nobody but me heading the mission." Sora muttered to himself as he sailed through the Lanes Between in his new Gummi ship. He'd made it exactly for this, and as a exact (but improved- what could he say the original wasn't fit for sailing nowadays and was pretty outdated) replica of the original model of the Highwind he'd started all his crazy journeys in. He even kept the moniker, except he added a Mark 2 on the end so no one got confused.

Sora's fingers drummed on the steering mechanism anxiously. He was completely alone. No Roxas, no Ven, no Xion, no Riku, no Kairi, no Terra, no Aqua, no Donald, no Goofy, no King Mickey. Still, he whistled the march he'd picked up from Donald and Goofy during longer trips, smiling.

He didn't know where he was heading besides "somewhere new". In fact, Yen Sid had promoted this, saying Keyblade Masters of old would go out and see all the worlds they could if they decided against staying in one and training students. Sora's smile faltered slightly when he realized Xehanort had taken that approach, but he shook his head. He wasn't going to become corrupted like that old and wicked man.

He saw a world he didn't recognize, and sped off towards it "That place looks nice."

...

Sora's eyes widened at the plains that unfolded in front of him "Wow... This place is bigger than the pride lands!" He spun around with a grin "Man, more diverse too! Got a mountain, a river, and..." He trailed off, then began running "A castle under attack...!"

It didn't take terribly long to rush through the gates to the surrounding town, but each second felt like a full minute to Sora. People needed him, people were in trouble! He pushed through the crowd, calming down when he realized that most of the damage going on was in the castle itself. Still, the clouds of smoke and flickers of flame weren't reassuring in the least. He pushed through the heavy gates and opening the next set was a little harder. "Jeez people!" He sighed under his breath "Glad to have security but this is getting cumbersome!"

He took a moment to assess the burning courtyard with their own small battalions of monsters, then headed for the doors into the castle where most of the fires seemed to be-

An orange cloud of twilight flecked with black descended onto the world. Sora paused- this wasn't an ordinary sunset. This felt... Skin crawling and unnatural. A little thick like someone had poured heavy fog into the atmosphere. He looked at his hands, his eyes wincing slightly. Everything had a diffused glow to it now, too, one that was a little hard to look at. The coloring was also unlike a typical sunset-

His hand suddenly went to his throat, which was constricting. No, no, actually it felt like something was building up inside of him. He coughed into his free hand as his head began exploding with almost delirious pain. When he pulled his hand back, there was a dark liquid on it. He wasn't entirely sure thanks to the suddenly odd sepia toned colors in this new world, but it could have passed for blood. His legs buckled underneath him, and he coughed again. It hurt. Everything hurt and felt like it was trying to kill him. He tried keeping himself conscious, but he toppled to the ground and succumbed to the darkness.

The depths of unconsciousness was welcoming compared to the earlier pain. Sora felt calmer as he floated around in blissful ignorance. But then he heard a mournful sound, like a woman wailing a sad and ethereal lullaby. He blearily opened his eyes, seeing what looked like a gigantic snake made of light staring intently at him. It wasn't threatening, just observing as it began fading away into the darkness with a keening cry that made Sora tear up.

Sora felt himself slip into sleep just as he heard the barest whisper: "Warrior... Of another world... Of another Destiny... Help... Us..."

...

The first thing Sora registered was stone beneath him and a burning feeling all over his body. He slowly opened his eyes, and noted dismally he was in a dungeon or jail or something. He sat up, gasping and groaning as his body resisted. It felt like his muscles had cramped up everywhere. He tried to rub his face, but ended up staring confusedly at a chain attached to his wrist.

He sighed "Not very bright are they...?" He held out his freed hand to summon his Keyblade-

He shrieked. The Kingdom Key coalesced for only a second in his hand before it felt like his whole body was burning. He writhed on the ground for a few minutes after, almost sobbing from the torture of it.

After he got himself to calm down, he sat back up, "Okay, no Keyblade." He tugged at his chain "...too strong to break with just my hands." He looked around for a rock or something similar, but to no avail. He tugged at the chain with a small scoff, relinquishing his ideas to the situation and realizing that maybe tugging was all he could do.

Sora paused when he heard a small, high pitched laugh. He looked around in the orange tinted dimness "Who's there?" He clenched his fists as the voice laughed again. It was inhuman laughter. "I said who's there?!" Sora yelled.

"Boo!" Sora yelled in surprise as an odd little creature sprung from the darkness "I found you!"

Sora looked it- perhaps her -over. An odd little imp of a creature with an odd mask covering one eye and most of her drawn back hair, her body curvy and tattooed with black and white and glowing electric blue lines. She leaned back from her excited spring with a yawn, and Sora finally noticed she was floating around "Oh come on, I was joking."

Sora glared at her "Wasn't very fu-"

"Well it was to me! Especially your face!" The imp replied with a giggle. Sora felt a little squeamish seeing that smile she wore.

He shook his head and waved his hand to try and get her away "Leave me alone I'm trying to esca- HEY!" He stopped himself as the imp began pooling energy between her hands "I-I'm defenseless against that don't-" the moment he held out his chained hand was the moment the imp released the energy, and the chain snapped.

Sora pulled his hand in "Woah." He blinked, picking up the broken chain "Um... Thank you?" He looked up. No one was there. Then he felt something heavy fall into his hoodie and a familiar giggle.

He stood up and began wildly scrambling at his back "HEY! YOU GET OUT OF THERE!"

The imp held onto his hood for dear life, saying "Well I saved your life! You're under my rules no-" Sora pulled his hood on, effectively trapping the imp against his head "Hey! What's the big idea?!"

Sora shut his eyes so they would hopefully not get scratched out in anger "You be quiet and let me get on my way." He found himself pulling his hood against his head soon after, then opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. He stopped and stared at the imp, who was now glaring right in front of him.

"Listen here, spiky." She began, poking his nose "I could've let you waste away in here, so you owe me big time!"

Sora lowered his hood "Excuse me but I don't have to listen to you." He smiled, proud and smug "I'm a Keyblade Master!"

The imp only flew right over him and back into his hood "Dunno what that is." Sora yelped when she tugged at his hair "Now get a move on and find us a way outta here. That's the only way I'm gonna let you repay your debt to me."

Sora turned to look at her over his shoulder, realizing she wasn't gonna quit "Okay fine! Gosh!" He shook his head while muttering "Don't even know your name."

"It's Midna, sweetie." She yawned "Do get your mistress's name memorized."

Sora looked around, sighing at the reminder of a certain redhead's annoying catchphrase "Yeah, yeah, I got it memorized." He found that the gate was rusted enough to break down, but the exit to elsewhere in the castle was completely locked.

"Well? Can't go that way." Midna quipped.

Sora inspected the cell next to his, kicking aside a box. He smiled "Hey! A crawlspace!" He crouched over "This has gotta lead somewhere..."

* * *

DA DA DA DAAAAAAAAAA congrats another stupid thing to pile on top of my massive list of abandoned and writer-blocked projects


	2. Sewers and Sarcasm

What it lead to was apparently a sewer, "Must be under the city or somethin'..." He paused upon seeing what looked like a small blue flame. He walked over and tilted his head at it "Huh... What's this?" He held out his hand to touch it.

"I wouldn't." Midna said, "That's a spirit."

Sora pulled his hand back, "A what?"

"What happens when ordinary people are exposed to twilight. They turn into spirits when drawn away from their precious light."

Sora frowned, "Oh..." He turned his head to Midna, still lounging in his hood, "But wait, why am I not a spirit?"

Midna shrugged, "How am I supposed to know? You were just kind of thrown in that cell with your corporeal form maintained somehow."

Sora stared at the spirit awhile, wondering why he wasn't the same. He then turned, seeing that the sewer was a little bigger than he thought. "Huh." He sloshed in the walkway only a second before something black skittered by his feet. He jumped back; he was weapon-less, so a monster wouldn't be a good thing to face right now.

"It was just vermin. Nothing to worry about you scaredy pants." Midna sighed.

Sora clasped his hands together, "I dunno, I'm kinda powerless here."

"Wow, I didn't think you'd be such a coward." Midna yawned a little and settled in Sora's hood. Sora glared at her, then looked around.

He walked through a gate, noting the chain hanging around, and the spikes down in one direction, " Okay, not that way..."

There was a chain- or at least he thought it was a chain this light strained his eyes and made shadows creep in his vision the farther and farther things were -down one way and possibly a gate of some kind.

He hopped down and walked over to the gate, then felt around, "Okay, okay then we can get out this way, but how." he began pulling from the bottom, "Do. I. Open it?!" He sighed and backed up, Midna's taunting giggles not helping the anger rushing to his head. He then noted something orange and cyan with a hand at the end above his head pointing to the chain. "Oh." He jumped up to the walkway and grabbed it, and the supposed route of escape was revealed to be a sluice.

Treading water was easy enough for him, but containing his annoyance wasn't. "Ugh! That was supposed to be our way out!" He whined as he splashed at the water. Shortly after he coughed, more blood coming up. He laid down, continuing to cough at a violent rate.

"Jeez, you okay kid?" Midna asked, "I didn't know you were such a wimp-"

"This normally doesn't happen to me!" Sora snapped at her. He turned over and threw up. Shortly after he washed up his hands, the apparent episode of sickness done, "I don't know what's going-" He took off his gloves, "...on..." He looked at his hands, specifically the veins and arteries at his wrists. They were darker, looking sickly and poisoned.

Midna cheekily prodded his neck, "Same deal up here, spiky."

Sora didn't snap back at her as he raised his hand to his neck. Whatever pulse he felt was syncopated and weak. He puffed up his bangs, unsure how to deal with this new development. He checked his bag, bringing out a potion, then uncorked it and drank up, feeling that maybe that would cure up whatever illness this was.

He was about to throw away the bottle like he always did before Midna said, "You probably wanna keep that."

Sora stood, noting Midna was now leaning on his shoulder, "Why."

"Keep the blood of your enemies, imprison fairies, and the like." She laughed at his disgusted expression, and plopped back into his hood.

Sora then noted the water was high enough to swim over the spikes, and sighed as he splashed in to continue on, "There's gotta be an out somewhere..."

He walked past a spirit, and flinched at a brief flash of fear: "What are these black things... Where are they coming from... And how do we get out of here?!" He stopped and held a hand to his head. He quietly tried ignoring the thought but it just kept coming back-

"Incoming!"

Sora's head snapped up just as one of the little "black things" chomped at his leg. He yelled in pain and shook it off, then kicked it back into the shadows. As he pulled out bandages for his leg- he wanted his stock of potions to last as long as it could, after all -he growled at Midna, "You want help from me you gotta pull more weight than that!"

Midna only yawned some more, "You only got a boo-boo."

Sora tied up his bandage, "I'll be lucky if that doesn't get mildly infected." He then noted a few bars separating what looked like a way back, "Well ther- HEY!"

Midna flew out of his hoodie and phased through the bars. She waved her ponytail at him, "Well, come on!"

Sora hopped around until he got as close as he could get, and noted dismally there was nothing but bars. Much better kept bars, "I can't get through this!"

"Then find a way!" Midna said unhelpfully.

Sora looked around again, "But I can't-" he stopped himself when he saw the crawlspace flooded by water. He turned around, "Gimme a sec." He grinned when he spotted the next sluice not too far away in the opposite direction. He made his way over to the chain dangling at the intersection, ignored the spirit huddling in the corner down the way, and pulled.

There was a creak, but the gate didn't open, "Hu- AGH!" Sora was attacked by another shadowy beast, but his size proved to be a better weapon when he threw it off and managed to crush it under his foot.

He coughed up blood again, which he really didn't need when there was now a gash in his shoulder. He took another potion and hoped he could find a place to get more whenever push came to shove. He then jumped over to the other chain, and sighed in relief when it opened the sluice instead of an ambush.

After that he hopped down and tromped over to the crawlspace in triumph and made his way in. He ran past the spirit and grinned triumphantly at Midna, "Ha! Nailed it!"

She grinned sardonically at him, "Oh, but that was such an adventure, wasn't it?" She jumped back into his hood, "Too bad we still have a long way to go."

Sora sighed. He then walked up to the stairs, and noted there was several chunks missing from them, "That's great." He readied himself for a jump, "Haven't you people ever heard of mainten-ANNNCEEE!" The jump went great, but the stairs refused to play along and crumbled under Sora's feet. He landed in the water below with a hard knock to his jaw from the beginning of the staircase.

"What are you doing?!" Midna asked.

Sora only stood back up and walked back to the jump, "I can't make this easily-"

Midna floated over, "Here, focus on me. I apparently have to do everything for you."

Sora was about to rebuke that statement, but instead he did as Midna said and jumped afterwards. To his surprise he made the jump and the one that followed after easily. Midna stretched in his hoodie, "There you go!"

Sora didn't want to thank her- not yet at least -for that since it was really the first thing she'd done for him without an ulterior motive. He merely went up the rest of the stairs, occasionally with Midna's help again or kicking off shadow beasts or shimmying across ropes. At the top the door to what was presumably outside was locked, but Sora craned his neck upwards.

"Didn't lock the top, I see." He muttered at the swinging door higher up. He could see a glow, and he presumed that it was outside even more since it was swinging around from wind. He jumped up with the help of Midna, and laughed in giddy relief that it was all over.

* * *

I wouldn't quite say it's over yet Sora ;p also OH HO HO THIS ISN'T DEAD


	3. The Girl in the Tower

Rain was the first thing Sora felt. It pelted his already wet form and winds sent him shivering and clutching himself. He was dressed for nice weather, not rain and windchill. He looked around and realized he was at the castle he was charging into earlier.

"And now you care to guess where we are?" Midna quipped. Sora's teeth chattered, but he remained silent. She then yawned, "Isn't the black cloak of twilight lovely today?" Sora figured it was beautiful in a sense, but honestly it was too odd seeing clouds and skies being rendered in pale orange and dark grayish black. It looked sick, like he was.

Midna tugged at his hair, "Come on! I want you to go over to that tower!"

Sora shook his head to collect himself again and trudged off. It was pretty obvious which tower Midna meant, but it was still going to be a chore getting there. He jogged over to another spirit, catching another flash: "... monstrous birds..." He ignored it as he pushed a crate up to a elevated spot in the path and climbed up. He jumped down the other way, and froze.

"Big bird..." He murmured at the sight of an incredibly creepy bird of prey preening itself. Or, well, whatever it could do with its odd head that looked like what normal head it'd previously owned had exploded.

Sora cautiously backed up, "I don't think we should go that way-"

Midna hopped out of his hood and pushed him forward. The bird straightened, then took to the air with a warped and hornlike cry. Sora cursed under his breath and ran. He clambered over the dilapidated castle, picking up another bird tailing him. Midna kept yelling at him to fight but Sora was not going to fight an aerial opponent unarmed.

He saw some poles, "Midna!" She complied, surprisingly, and Sora jumped onto pole after pole and landed on the roof. He was dismayed to find that the birds had even more companions, and soon the air filled with frantic footsteps and blaring horns.

Sora climbed up and into the tower through a window, glad that the birds didn't follow.

...

Inside he collapsed against the wall, panting. Blood dribbled down his chin and he wiped it up. He then crawled in deeper, and jumped down to land on a staircase.

Midna flew off, going up the stairs, "This way!"

Sora ran after, "Hey, wait up!" He opened the unlocked door, "Midna I-"

He stopped himself as a cloaked, vaguely feminine figured turned to him. He could see a pair of grayish eyes in the shadows of the hood, darting to Midna, then him, then back to Midna, "...Midna?! Who is this? What are you doing here?" The voice confirmed the figure was female with its light pitch and graceful tone.

"I'm Sora." Sora walked to her, "I-I'm sorry if we're-"

"What an honor, you remember my name." Midna laughed.

The girl looked at Sora, "So this is who you were searching for..."

Midna punched Sora's shoulder, "Not what I had in mind, but he'll do." Sora glared at her, since she punched him exactly where he'd been hurt earlier and the area was still sore.

The girl noticed Sora's bandages, "You were hurt..." She looked away, "I am sorry."

"Hey now," Sora said, "That was monsters, not you."

Midna only plopped on his spikes of hair, "Poor thing has no idea where he is or what's going on. Don't you think you should explain to him what you've done and what's going on?" She giggled a little ominously, "Twilight Princess?"

Sora grabbed Midna and pulled her off, "If she is a princess you shouldn't be so disrespectful!" He nodded his head in a light bow, "And sorry for my previous disrespect-"

"Listen carefully," the girl stopped him with a whisper, "This land was once bathed in light and the place where the power of the gods was said to slumber. This was once the Kingdom of Hyrule." Sora sat down, deciding this would be a long story, and the girl did the same, "But that kingdom has been transformed by the king that rules the twilight..."

The girl continued to weave a tale of exactly what had transpired. A coup had been staged by this "King of Twilight", bringing monsters much more powerful than anyone in this realm could have prepared for. The army that the ruling princess (she had yet to be coronated to queen) had managed to summon for a counterattack had been decimated easily, leaving enough soldiers alive for the king's following leverage to be more effective; surrender to the twilight and live, or fight and die. Judging how the land was covered in twilight, it was obvious even to Sora what choice the princess had made.

"All the people know now is fear... Fear of a nameless evil..." The girl said, standing. She continued, "The kingdom succumbed to twilight, but I remain its princess..."

Sora's head snapped up. This girl was the Princess of Hyrule? He leaned back in surprise when the girl began undoing her hood, causing Midna to let out a small gasp as her hoodie bunk began swinging around.

"I am Zelda." The girl said softly, dark brown hair and an ornate crown now revealed.

Midna peeked out from Sora's hood, "You don't have to look so sad!" She leaned back behind Sora's hair with her hands behind her head, "We actually find it to be quite livable! I mean, is perpetual twilight really all that bad?"

Sora turned to her, "Well you grew up with it. As you've been seeing this stuff makes me sick! Literally!"

Zelda only shook her head lightly, "Midna, this is no time for levity. The shadow beasts have been searching far and wide for you." Midna jumped out of Sora's hood and floated around in the air, "Why is this?"

Midna laughed and shrugged, "Why indeed, you tell me!"

Sora glared at her, "Hey, give us a straight answer!"

"Sora, was it?" Zelda asked, "It's alright." She then glanced at the door, "The guard will make his rounds soon, you must flee." Sora grunted in annoyance when Midna crashed back into his hood, then shook his head before nodding to Zelda.

He began leaving, but not before he turned around, "Zelda?"

"Whatever question you have, ask it quickly." Zelda replied.

Sora then pointed to the tainted veins on his neck, "How come we're both still human, but I'm the one who's sick?"

Zelda's composure didn't slip, but her words sounded uncertain, "I don't know."

...

After wandering back outside, Sora was relieved to see that the birds had taken roost elsewhere. He sneezed a bit in the rain.

Midna danced around in the air a bit, "So, what do you want to do?"

Sora thought it over, then said, "Get me out of this twilight stuff already."

Midna gave him a smug look, "You sure?"

Sora nodded, "Yes I just want to get out of this stuff so I can help these people."

Midna held out her hand, "Okay then!"

Sora then felt himself getting torn apart and tossed away. He quickly realized it was teleportation, and managed to get out a cry of anger- after all, why didn't Midna do this earlier?! -but was swept away to parts unknown.

* * *

I swear those freaking Kargoroks were the death of me playing this game I always avoid them at this part. But annoyingly enough if Midna can teleport things why didn't she teleport Link in the beginning but oh well she's Midna pre-character-development who can really blame her


	4. Illness and Kindness

Sora landed in ankle-deep water. The sun was beginning to set, drawing the spring Sora found himself in into a much more natural twilight. He looked at his hand, noting his skin had a slightly bruised tint to it and his blood vessels still stood out, except in this lighting they looked black.

"Oh, surprise surprise you aren't normal again!" Sora looked around for Midna, but found nothing, "Don't ask me why, but I will say if you want to find out, head back into the twilight. Just keep in mind you gotta be let in by me!"

"Show yourself!" Sora yelled. He sighed afterwards when he realized Midna had fled. He held up his hand, "I wond-" The Kingdom Key only appeared for a moment before he yelled and quickly decided his Keyblade was still unaccessible.

He walked out of the spring with a sigh of defeat, and looked around, "Well, there's a gate, so there's people nearby. Maybe someone can lend me a weapon."

Looking one way revealed a rickety bridge that would be dangerous to cross in the dimming light with some kind of eerie glow, the other way a much more secure route deeper into the woods, although there was something definitely not human patrolling around. Sora took the latter, "Potential fist fight it is."

The moment he said that the thing turned to him with beady red eyes. It yowled and brandished a club, prompting Sora to quickly assume a fragile speedster type of fighting. He dodged around the creature (it was decidedly not human; more like a goblin, Sora realized) until he managed to get around to its back to choke it from behind. It whined and shrieked and put up a typical fight, but Sora managed to choke it to the point where it fell limp and Sora could grab its club and hightail it before it could wake.

He observed his new weapon. A club wasn't his typical way of fighting, but it couldn't have been very different from his Keyblade, if just more blunt and short reached. Sora looked up to see that his previous opponent had buddies, and he quickly maneuvered to avoid them while making a counter with his newly acquired club.

He had to stop, right in the middle of combat, retching up his insides in a red mess. He blocked a club blow, then looked up and glared at his opponent. He shoved the goblin off, but not before getting knocked to the ground. He quickly rolled over, and blocked another set of strikes against him. Sora stood and clubbed both of them, sighing in relief when they toppled over and disappeared in black clouds of smoke.

Sora shakily grabbed his arm holding the club, still coughing and vomiting. It slipped away after awhile, leaving him dizzy and ill. But that was nothing new. He wondered if he should head back to the spring and wash up, but then he recalled a not-quite-dead monster up the way and decided against it. It was pretty obvious there was a town just beyond the gate and the house he suddenly noted had to have been made by someone, so honestly maybe he could have someone help him wash up.

He headed for the town. He drew up his hood to hide the whole "tainted vein" deal and possibly his sickly skin tone. Soon after the town came into view, and Sora was relieved to see a river to clean himself in. He made the shortest route to the river-

"MONSTER!"

Sora stiffened at the yell, then turned to the source. A man was perched on some rock above him, and was frantically pulling up a weed of some sort. Sora held up his hands, "H-Hey I'm not-!"

A piercing whistle later summoned a hawk, and the man directed it to Sora, "Back! Back!"

Sora covered his face as the hawk scratched at him, yelling furiously, "I'M NOT A MONSTER!" After a good minute of flesh being torn, the hawk left, but Sora entered another episode of coughing and collapsed, "I-I'M SICK!" He panted, unable to yell anymore, "And injured..." He heard the man yelling again, and maybe a few other voices, but he started slipping out of consciousness the moment someone picked him up.

"Don't worry, son, you're in good hands..." was one of the last things he heard before utter black.

...

Sora felt a cold cloth on his forehead. Soft whispers of a lullaby seemed to raise him from the darkness. He opened his eyes sluggishly, wondering what fleeting dreams ran away from him. He saw blond hair and blue eyes set to a feminine face and his mind leapt to conclusions.

"Namine...?" His words tumbled out slurred.

The woman set aside the cloth and rubbed his cheek, "Easy, easy, I don't know who I remind you of, but my name is Uli."

Sora blinked, quickly realizing his mistake. This woman was several years older than Namine, and a quick look over revealed she was quite a ways along towards having a baby. Definitely not Namine. He tried to ignore the heat rising to his cheeks, "S-sorry miss."

Uli smiled, "No worries, you've been ill."

A man bent over, "How ya feeling? I hope Hench's hawk didn't scratch you up too badly."

Sora sat up, "Uh, I feel good enough to sit up-" he paused to cough. He was about to wipe up the blood with his hand until Uli handed him a scrap of cloth. "Thanks." He added softly. Sora looked at himself properly- there was bandages wrapped around his chest that hugged his shoulder, and his arms were lost in white with an occasional speck of red and brown. He sighed and flopped his hands into his lap, flinching at the burst of pain but smiling nonetheless, "Remind me not to mess with hawks."

It felt good to laugh. It's been a little too long for Sora. He could tell from Uli and her companion's similar reaction it had been awhile since they had laughed too. The man's laughter dwindled to a chuckle, and he wrapped his arm around Uli, "I see my wife has already introduced herself, and folks around here call me Rusl."

Sora nodded, "Okay then, Rusl, Uli, I'm Sora. Thank you for helping me out." He rubbed his shoulder, feeling the gash through the gauze, "I-I'm sorry about looking like a monster-"

"No, no it's alright." Rusl explained, "Hench is a little high strung." The humor in his eyes faded, "We all are with what's been going on." He then went over to a table and picked up a sword, still sitting firmly in its scabbard, "Speaking of which, I should go out-"

"Rusl." Uli barely raised her voice but it's pleading whine with her hand on his shoulder and her stomach made it speak so much more. Rusl only unsheathed the sword a little and flecked off with was either dirt or dried blood. Sora noticed bandages around Rusl's chest like his, except they were much more soiled.

Sora leaned his legs over the edge of the couch he was laying on to stand up, "Any way I can help?" After a moment he added, "You could at least tell me what's wrong."

Rusl sheathed the sword and began heading for the door, "Monsters took our children, and they're still plaguing this town as if that wasn't enough!" Sora blinked at how quickly the kind and fatherly air of Rusl's tone left. He took another hard look at Rusl's state of being; he seemed to have slight trouble holding the sword right, not to mention if his bandages were dirtier he'd either had them longer or his wounds were far more grievous.

Sora stood, "I can get the kids back." Rusl looked back at him, his glare questioning. Sora held out his hand, "You give me the sword, I can save the kids or at least find out where they are."

Rusl looked at the sword, weighing it and what to do. He then said, "The eldest of them was seventeen and fiercely protective of the younger ones. Had a wooden sword he liked to use. I taught him most of what I know." Sora felt a slight drop in confidence, "He still got captured." Sora felt another drop when Rusl pointed the sword's pommel at him accusingly, "By the way, I just met you. You look like a reasonable kid, but I am not trusting on of the only swords I've forged in this village to you."

"Well then if there's others let me show you I can be trusted!" Sora sighed, "I promise I'm a lot more than I seem."

Rusl took a deep breath, obviously wanting to yell, but instead he said, "Fine. Uli can show you the short sword I was making for Jaggle." He opened the door, "Presuming we don't have another ambush, meet me outside for a spar."

* * *

(no idea what to comment just be glad I'm updating this)


	5. Into the Twilight

Sora's eyes needed to adjust to the dimmed light of night. He was surprised by how much he needed to blink, even if it was going from firelight to moonlight. He could see the glint of their swords easily enough, though.

"First blow that makes contact ends the match." Rusl said. Sora nodded.

He waited for other instructions, but was quickly surprised when Rusl just charged without a sound. Sora blocked it, sparks briefly crossing their vision as the swords ground against each other. Sora shoved him off and went for his typical counter, but quickly found Rusl was much more masterful than him.

"Good effort." Rusl said as he pressed down and twisted Sora's arm. He suddenly changed his defense to offense, lashing at Sora's shoulder, "But to win you need to step it up."

Sora blocked it, "Okay then!" He switched, feeling a well up of nausea that probably meant he was pushing it. He backed away, holding his body and his sword loosely. He bounced as he dodged Rusl's swipes, and soon felt the shore of the river he'd seen earlier. He jumped back and dove into the water.

Sora could hear a few noises (laughs or yells he wasn't sure) and saw a torch dance over the rippled surface. He grinned and swam off to shallower waters, and surfaced with a thrust at Rusl. He grinned when he saw that there was now a cut on his cheek, "First blow goes to me." He drew his sword back and stabbed it into the ground, "Now do you trust me?"

Rusl grinned, "I trust you."

...

Uli handed Sora a sword and shield the next morning with a bag, "Here, this will last you a trip to Kakariko."

Sora peeked into the bag, ignoring the fact he had no idea what or where Kakariko was, "Food, awesome!"

Rusl punched him lightly, "Keep in mind we and the town are trusting and counting on you to get our children back."

Sora set up the shield and sword on his back, nodding, "I promise I'll get 'em back." And so he left.

He passed by the spring, but halted at the voice that whispered into his ears, "young... hero... come to me..." He looked at the spring. Empty. He looked around some more. No one.

"That wasn't me."

Sora jumped and yelled in surprise as Midna popped out of his shadow, glaring at him. She waved her hand in exasperation, "I can do this naturally as a creature of shadows, ya know."

Sora yelled at her, "Warn me!"

She giggled and pulled at her eye, "It's fun seeing you scared!"

Sora went past her, "Well if that wasn't you-"

He stopped in the middle, the voice whispering again, "Be... prepared... It is... coming."

Sora drew his sword, looking around warily. He looked up and jumped back as some gigantic... thing fell from the sky. It was big and black with red lines, and honestly Sora was glad to beat the crud out of it with his newly acquired sword. It poofed out of existence with hardly any cry, which was much more disconcerting than Sora thought it would be.

He washed off the blade in the water, "That... That was... interesting." He coughed a little, but let the blood run down his chin. After all if it was just going to keep happening why even bother?

The sky darkened, and soon it felt like it was a moonless night. Sora bolted upright and drew his hands in closer, "H-hey what's-"

A glow diffused from the center of the spring at his feet, running up the rocks and illuminating everything. Sora had to squint when it looked like the water sprang up just from the suddenness of all the light, but found himself gaping in awe at the beast before him. Nothing but pure light, and rather goat-like with the horns fusing into a circle.

It stared at him with a strange intelligence and wisdom beyond ages, and spoke with a voice Sora could only hear as a keening song, "Thank you, young hero, for saving me."

Sora sheathed his sword reluctantly, "Uh, I kinda do things like that all the time."

The light-beast nodded, "Indeed."

Sora scratched his chin, then turned to leave, "Y-you're welcome-"

"O hero, wait." The beast said, "I have the knowledge you crave." Sora turned back, letting it continue, "I am the Light of Ordon Province. I am Ordona."

"The light?" Sora asked, "How can you-" he shook his head, "Never mind."

"I am one of the four Light Spirits that withhold the twilight from Hyrule." Ordona continued, "And I am sure you are wondering what you just defeated."

Sora looked to the sky, noting the black and blue thing that now seemed to hover in the heavens, "Uh, yeah..."

"You have slain a slave of the Twilit King, o hero, and saved myself and Ordon from the twilight." Sora nodded hesitantly, as if that seemed a little... big. Even by his standards, which then again hadn't really changed despite his universe-saving antics. He snapped his head up when Ordona began speaking again, "I know you are wondering why the twilight lingers in your veins."

Sora lifted his hand to wipe up the blood from his mouth, "Right..." He was vaguely surprised to find that instead of blood there was water now.

Ordona's mournful song sounded sadder, "I cannot restore you completely, but I can grant you a boon of my Light. I can purge only the smallest amounts of the twilight within you, but I cannot remove it all."

Sora wiped up the water completely, "Thank you, but..." he laughed at himself, "I sound so greedy saying this, but why can't you help me completely?"

Ordona explained with regret, "You lost your light when my kin, Lanayru, fell. I cannot restore you to your rightful state because your light is sleeping within folds of twilight with the rest of Lanayru province."

Sora nodded, then turned away once more, expecting to leave, "Okay. Thank you, Ordona, Light of Ordon."

"Part of that light slumbers within you." Sora stopped abruptly, leaving ripples in the spring. So that was the other being that had approached him begging for rescue. "Lanayru's light is perhaps the only thing between you and an ordinary spirit. Exposure to the twilight saps the strength of my kin, and of yourself." Sora quietly held a hand to his heart as Ordona continued, "I beseech you, do not be hasty and rush into the shadows without thinking. Every second your life and Lanayru's is sapped away. Lift the dark cloud of twilight from Hyrule quickly and decisively."

Sora nodded, "Right, so it's either clear the twilight, or die trying."

"Indeed." Ordona said softly.

Sora saw the light fading and the darkness exposing it lifting, "Hyrule is in your foreign hands, young hero..."

Sora turned and the spring, well, was just a spring. He turned, then ran towards the wall of twilight shielding what he had been told was Faron Woods. He held out his hand, "Midna, you know what to do."

He didn't stop for a beat when Midna popped out with an annoyed huff, then vanished into the twilight. Midna's ponytail lashed out, and Sora was dragged into the twilit forest headfirst and running.

* * *

Back into the twilight~


	6. The Woods at Dusk

"So basically you just did exactly what you were told not to." Midna sighed when Sora stumbled into the amber hues of the forest.

Sora tugged at his glove absently, "No, I didn't."

The Faron Woods felt cold without a sun, and shadows were suddenly a million times more threatening now that their sienna tint left contrasts that were ever shifting. Midna's ponytail hand relinquished its grip on Sora's hand, "Well, you did just do everything you were told not to. You ran right in without a moment's hesitation."

"Well I know I got kind of a time limit here so..." Sora folded his hands behind his head, "Not really. I know what I'm doing." He lowered them soon after, ignoring Midna's exasperated glare, "Now, this place prob'ly has a light spirit, so let's go heal it up!"

Midna fell into his hoodie, "Okay then, if you think it's that easy." Sora waggled his head to annoy her, then tromped off. It shouldn't've been too hard, right? Just had to find the spirit and heal them up-

He stopped when spikes impaled themselves in the ground. They were black with red lines, just like the beast he killed earlier, and the air wavered between them. He looked up, then jumped back as a trio of them fell into the arena. Sora cautiously backed up. One hand reached back, testing the area between spikes. He pulled his hand back quickly when he felt something solid accompanied by a shock. He drew his sword as the beasts ambled about, "Okay..." He twirled it, "Three at once shouldn't be too bad..."

He suddenly realized his hoodie was empty. Sora looked over to see Midna lazily hovering in the air, "Well? Get to it if it's so easy!"

Sora nodded, then charged at the monsters. He needed little coaching from Midna to find out how to kill one, then the other was defeated even easier. He was starting to get into the rythym of using a real sword, and adapting well to Hyrule's geography. He skirted around one discarded monster carcass (which was odd considering earlier foes had just poofed away) and made a move for the final one-

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Sora stumbled. His ears filled with the wailing noise to the point where he wondered if he was deaf. Something dribbled down his nose and out of the corner of his eyes while a too familiar metallic taste filled his mouth. He staggered, dripping his sword and shield, clutching his chest and gasping. His vision doubled, tripled, maybe even quadrupled. Whatever illness the twilight had given him was suddenly _worse_. Back tenfold and kicking more than ever. He was choking; his legs felt barely used, almost like they were floating on barrels in water. The ground swayed beneath him, drips of red on the ground seemed to smear and blur into streaks.

An extremely powerful hand- a twilight beast's hand, Sora realized with horror -had taken the opportunity to wrap itself around his neck. The ground was barely felt because his legs were dangling uselessly. Sora finally gained some control of what he was doing, he held up his hand and banged it pitifully against the monster's. He wasn't going to last long, he could tell that now. He then decided reluctantly to play dead, and blankly stared forward while letting his head loll around.

The thing let him go. Sora cautiously took a deep breath, glad to breathe again. He kept himself "dead" as the beast got right in his face. He felt what could be interpreted as breath, and wondered if it was the same scent of darkness Riku had told him about so much. When it backed up, Sora glanced around. The previously killed two were alive again. He felt the hilt of his sword next to one limp hand, but decided not to grab it yet. Something nudged his leg. Suddenly it was raised and then it fell back to the ground. Sora was straining everything to not move.

Sora suddenly felt whatever was dripping out of his nose dripping into his mouth, which he realized was blood. He couldn't stop himself from the involuntary reflex of coughing.

Shortly after the monsters realized their dead warrior wasn't dead at all, and Sora jumped to his feet, grabbed his sword, and fended off one of them. Once again he killed all but one. Once again he lost all sense of orientation and had his illness grow at the most hellish sound he had ever heard.

Sora almost fell over when Midna abruptly returned in his hoodie. Her hair grabbed his head and pulled him to his feet by it, "Stay sharp idiot!" Sora clumsily blocked another attack, colliding with the barrier behind him. Midna dragged him every which way to help him, but it seemed to hinder more than help since it left Sora getting dizzier and dizzier, leaving his fighting form to decay until the match was black lumbering things chasing a young man dragged by an impatient imp, "You should really take care of these guys!"

Sora made a wet coughing noise that sounded quite similar to some choice insults and curse words. Shortly after he made another swipe at the fiends and yelled, "Well I can't kill 'em if they KEEP COMING BACK!"

Midna dragged him off again. She then forced him down into one spot while setting up a barrier of crackling energy. Sora shuffled and swayed, still off kilter from the screams that made his disease roar out of its slumber, "What are you-"

"Just wait." Midna snapped, "Let them come." Sora tried backing away, but Midna stubbornly pushed against his head so that moving was slow, almost impossible. He shuffled while the beasts came in closer and closer- "NOW!"

Midna released him, and he lunged at all three monsters, killing each within milliseconds of each other. Sora was relieved to see all three of them vanish into darkness and ascend to make another odd portal. After a moment, Sora fell to his knees. His breaths heaved, and shortly after so did his stomach with a mixture of bile and blood.

Midna shook her head above him, "Tsk, that's so gross."

"I'M SICK. THIS STUFF MAKES ME SICK." Sora barked at her.

Midna flopped into his hoodie again, "Whatever you say, piggy." Sora yanked off his jacket, and while Midna began chewing him out for "getting rid of a good resting place", he quietly folded it up and placed it in one of his packs.

"Listen up, you half pint brat." Sora pointed at Midna and growled, "I am sick and tired- literally and figuratively. Sick of you behavior, sick of this twilight, and I'm not putting up with this anymore."

Midna turned from him and stuck out her tongue over her shoulder, "Fine, don't thank me for my help."

Sora grabbed her ponytail and yanked on it, "Thank you for your lack of consideration!" Midna shrieked, then slapped Sora with her ponytail. Sora made a move to slap her, but she phased through his hands. The squabble escalated then waned until Sora was once again curled up on the ground and vomiting. He sighed when he was done, and just curled up. He was tired. Lonely. Taking this journey was turning out to be a horrible decision.

"The spirit won't help itself." Midna said. She then yawned as she pointed out the odd cry that echoed throughout the trees, "That noise should be the spirit lamenting the loss of its light."

Sora fluttered his lips. She hit his weak spot. He sat up, but it was slow, stubborn, and clearly rebellious in the fact he was going to take his own sweet time. He was soon trudging towards the spring, intending to get himself cleaned up again. Sora stopped when he saw the fragments of light resting above the small waterfall feeding it.

"Come... to my aid... I... Am a spirit... Of light."

Sora walked forward into the water, and oddly as his shoes soaked he felt his pain easing away, "I'm assuming you're the light spirit of Faron?"

"... Yes." The light replied.

Sora nodded, "Okay, I'm Sora. At your service."

The spirit spent a good deal of time trying to find its words, apparently, as it took at least a minute for it to speak again, "Hero of a foreign land... Look... For my light... Retrieve the light stolen by the dark beasts... And keep it... In this vessel." Sora held out his hands to catch the small spark of light that floated to him. It flashed in his grasp and became what looked like a set of clear pearls or beads on a string.

"Do you have... A map?" The light spirit asked. Sora shook his head. The vessel in his hands flashed again, "Then use this... To find... The insects of darkness..."

"Is that a metaphor or somethin'?" Sora asked.

"The dark insects... They are the form taken by evil... Once it has latched onto... Our scattered light." The light spirit explained.

Sora waited for it to say more, but the light fell silent. Sora turned to the tunnel a short walk away, holding up the Vessel of Light. It wavered, as if a wind began blowing it down that way. Sora put it up, "Alright then."

He jogged over the way indicated, holding his sword at the ready. He skidded to a halt momentarily to deal with some kind of pitch black plant that sprung to life, but not before noticing sparks running along the ground. He tilted his head, "Is that normal- ack!"

Midna had pulled at his hair, "Do you think something like that is normal? Those are the insects! Go get it!"

Sora rubbed the back of his head, "Sheesh pardon me for being new to Hyrule..." He then ran after the sparks, and managed to catch up with one.

In fact, he accidentally ran through it, tripping on something in the meanwhile. When he looked back, there was nothing to trip on, "Uh, what- oh!" He scrambled up and caught a small sphere of light that reminded him of a heart, "Is this some of the light?"

"No, it's a piece of twilight." Midna quipped, "Of course it's light. It's a tear of light." She then remarked, "Whaddya know you squished it without even trying."

Sora only pulled out the vessel, and watched as it and the tear were drawn to each other like magnets. After a flash and the vessel warming in his hands, the tear was safely stored away in one of the beads. He smiled, "One down," he paused to count under his breath before happily announcing, "15 to go!"

He then noticed a second flash of sparks running ahead, and he ran after it, "Hey!" It ran under a gate, and Sora kicked it in frustration, "Dang it, locked." He held up the vessel again and turned around, "Any the other way?" It fluttered again. He nodded and backtracked, "Can't miss any."

"Do you like talking to yourself?" Midna asked. Sora felt his cheeks warm a little. He was so used to chatting away with Donald and Goofy, even if it meant stating the obvious at times, that it had become habit. It was a reassuring kind of tic. Go over what needed to be done, and hear some kind of confirmation or reply to know everyone was alright.

Sora went around the campfire in front of a rather downtrodden house, and found that the vessel was dangling and dancing in the air like crazy. He didn't see anything. He tied the vessel up on his necklace rather than completely putting it up, deciding he could still see where he was going for the insects without swapping it between hands and pocket, "That's weird... It says there's-"

"It's right in front of us!" Midna sighed, "Are you going blind, too?!"

The insect seemed to have heard them, because a set of sparks leapt at Sora's face. Sora yelled and held out his hand. Really with all that had been transpiring he really didn't want a sparky-little-bug-darkness-metaphor thing clawing his face off. He felt something brush up against his hand (it had a lot of legs, Sora realized with a shudder) and he threw it off to parts unknown.

"It's getting away, dummy!" Midna yelled, shoving Sora towards the sparks that madly danced around.

Sora shrugged, "I-I don't see anything besides sparks!"

Midna flew into his face, "It's as plain to see as me! The thing is bigger than your brain!"

Sora shook his head, "No, it's not!" He thought a moment, then asked, "Hey, do you got a blindfold?"

"What makes you think I have one of those lying around?" Midna flipped back into his hoodie, "You should just open your eyes and really pay attention."

Sora looked at the sparks again as he recalled something King Mickey had mentioned about Riku a long time ago, "That's the thing..." He found a tattered, but relatively thick piece of cloth on the shack and pulled it off, then tied it over his eyes, "Your eyes can lie."

To be honest, Riku made this technique seem so easy. He made a lot of things look easy, actually, but this had got to be the pinnacle of such a feat. Sora couldn't see anything, and he felt off balance without his sight. He actually never really got a straight answer from Riku how he was able to see everything without his eyes, but Sora figured if he was going to have a chance at finding the light without dying, he'd have to learn on his own as he went along.

Midna's voice seemed louder in Sora's ear, and he wasn't sure if that was heightened senses or her being annoying, "Congrats you can see diddly squat."

He rolled his eyes from behind the blindfold, "Shh!" He carefully held out his hands, wondering how on earth he was going to find the bug. The answer came soon after when he heard an odd noise- clicking, humming, whatever it was it made his skin crawl and was certainly unique. He drew his sword and stabbed at the ground. He felt his foot being grazed, but he also heard a small ping and a cry.

Midna sounded impressed, "Woah, how'd ya do that? I thought you weren't that smart."

Sora lifted the blindfold and smiled at the tear, "A friend showed me once." He held out his hand and brought the tear to the vessel, "Two down, 14 to go."

Sora absently looked at his shoe and realized it had been silced through, and pulling the shoe aside revealed a cut on his foot. He bent down to take care of both, "Oh darn. Gonna have to get better at this..." While he crouched, he pulled out a needle for patching up clothes, and hardly paused when the vessel still floated towards the shack. He tapped his shoe when it was all sewed up, and used a potion for his injuries.

He walked over to the shack and put his blindfold back on, "Hmmm..." He lifted it back up to enter it, "Guess we might have to do some extermination." The shack was just as ramshackle on the inside as out. It didn't really surprise Sora, though.

He merely put his blindfold back on, and listened. He heard whimpering about bugs, and it took a little longer to hear their skittering. He drew his sword and slowly edged around. He felt something on his legs and swung blindly at it. He sliced himself open, but a small explosion and a tear of light appearing signaled another insect defeated. He made a stab somewhere else and killed the other while collapsing.

Sora removed the blindfold, grabbing at his leg and groaning. He removed his hand after a moment and began bandaging it up, "I gotta be more careful..." He stood on it uncertainly. It hurt, but he'd gone through worse. He held up the vessel and let the tears drift to it, and walked out the door.

Sora found himself at the locked gate again. He folded his arms in annoyance, "Okay... How am I gonna get this done..." He looked at his sword, then took an experimental swing. It cut through the wood, but it would take a lot of time to cut down the gate. Time he didn't have. He sheathed it and looked at his hand. He sighed; this was gonna hurt.

Sora held out his hand and summoned his Keyblade. He bit into his cheek to keep himself from screaming like a little girl to the point of tasting blood, and it took every ounce of his strength to keep the Keyblade in his hands as he sank to his knees. It took what felt like forever to get the tip aimed properly at the lock, and seconds of eternity to unlock it. He fell over the moment his dismissed the Kingdom Key, limp and breathing heavily. Yeah. That hurt. A lot.

"Hey! Don't let the bug get away!" Midna yelled at him.

Sora couldn't move. He was drained too much. He felt betrayed by the Keyblade from being so hurt and empty from using it. Midna yelled something again and Sora slammed out his hands. By sheer luck he managed to smush the bug. He managed to sit up and collect the tear, but it was at this point where he really needed to rest. He scooted over to the gate, leaned against it, and closed his eyes.

"WAKE UP!" Sora jolted awake from Midna's shrill alarm. She was glaring at him, "For someone who is so aware of his limited time in the twilight you sure are taking your time!"

Sora sighed and covered his face, "Uuughhh..." He stood, albeit a little shakily, and turned to the tunnel that was behind the gate. He paused a moment to force back a bout of nausea, but still had to spit up some of it onto the a nearby patch of grass. He drew his sword and dragged it along as he headed deeper into the twilight, "I hope I can be done with this soon..."

* * *

Okay I was hoping to bundle Faron's bout of twilight into one chapter but it looks like it'll have to be 1.5 or 2 because damn this is like 3k. Also I dunno about you guys but I think the twilight is out to kill our buddy here .3.


	7. The Woods at Dawn

Sora ran out of the cavern, and stopped to bend over and catch his breath. He looked back, "Jeez what is up with those rodents?!"

"They're small beans compared to other monsters, you know." Midna said. She giggled a little as Sora shook his head and continued muttering in disbelief.

He then seemed to realize he was in a bigger expansion of Faron Woods, cloaked in a bright fuchsia fog. He was about to comment on the oddity, but then again really it could have just been normal fog under the influence of twilight. Still... Fuchsia was an odd color choice. Not quite natural, even if this was because of grayish blue lit with orange light. He walked up to it, but paused. He could smell something sweet. Almost sickeningly so. And yet it reminded him of home... The flowers on the breeze... The taste of Paopu...

"You gonna get a move on?" Midna said.

Sora held up his Vessel of Light and saw it drift to the side, specifically the left. He put on his blindfold and walked until he heard the hums of insects. The way it reverberated signaled two were sitting there. He drew his sword and swung. There was a clang of rock, but the humming was still there. He tilted his head around, then swore, "They can FLY?!"

"These ones, I guess." Midna shrugged, "Shouldn't be too har-"

Sora was smacked by one of the bugs, hard enough to throw him off balance and into the wall like rock the bugs had been resting on. Sora whirled around and swung blindly, yelling about stupid bugs and other complaints. It took a good several minutes to kill them both. Sora undid the blindfold again, sheathed his sword, and collected the light, "I swear if I have to face any more flying ones..." He huffed.

Sora looked at the vessel, and it began drifting into the heart of the fog. He once again went to the very edge. Enough to cover his shoes, actually. That smell was awfully enticing...

"It's just fog." Midna pushed him along, "Nothing too bad."

Sora tugged at his glove, "I dunno... It seems a little more than that." He shook his head, "Nah, you're probably right. I don't think this would be that bad." He waded in.

The smell went from noticeable to extremely pungent and unavoidable. The air seemed to thicken. Sora didn't notice, because very quickly- almost instantly -his mind started going into a stupor. It smelled so much like home... So sweet and warm... He could hear Kairi calling him over for a Paopu to share... Riku was hugging him so tight and close...

Sora giggled dazedly, "Ri..." He coughed a little, "that's... too tight..." He failed to notice that the air was getting harder and harder to breathe with every breath, that his footsteps were becoming sluggish and clinging to the ground. Something dribbled from his nose. He wiped at his nose, looked at the blood on his hand, then smiled listlessly, giggling and muttering again as his drugged dream continued on uninterrupted. He opened his mouth a little wider to suck in more air, but he stumbled and slowly sank to his knees while inhaling more of the fog.

Midna floated above him, "Kiddo?"

Sora laughed, his words slurred, "I'm not a... kiddo Kairi..." His eyes drooped. His smile was hollow, almost like there was a degree of horror underneath it. He made a sucking, choking noise, but still remained unnervingly serene and torpid as he continued suffocating in the fog. He fell over, laying down on the ground with his smile twitching. The air was so thick, so sweet, so warm. It was a big, thick blanket and it was enticing him to sleep. Yes... Sleep would work great... He felt Kairi wrapping him up and whispering, "Sleep. You need your rest." He felt the warmth get closer, smothering him, "Me and Riku will be right here. By your side while you sleep."

He tried whispering, but it came out even softer, and was forced and full of coughing strain, "Riku... Kairi... Yeah..."

As he fell unconscious, it hardly bothered him that the hallucination added sinisterly, "_**Forever**_."

...

Sora's next conscious thought was that he was suddenly drowning. He shot up sputtering and coughing and wiping at his wet face as he realized that what was actually happening was that Midna had splashed his face with water. Midna shook out her wet ponytail hand, "Jeez, don't be so _stupid_! If somethin' fishy is going on get outta there!"

Sora stopped coughing and took deep breaths. It had never, EVER, felt so good to breathe again. He looked around, seeing he was now out of the fog, "Wha...?" He looked at Midna, "What happened?"

"You tell me!" She snapped, "One second you're trudging through that fog like nobody's business and the next you've got a creepy smile on your face, you're giggling madly about some people named Kairi and Riku, and then you just fall flat on your face and almost choke to death!"

Sora stared at the fog. "How long was I out?" He asked.

Midna, ever helpful, shrugged, "I dunno, a few minutes to realize I needed to get you outta there, then another couple moving you here and trying to shake you awake, and then as long as it took me to get water from the spring."

Sora figured maybe that would be a half hour. Maybe three quarters of one. He stood, but fell to his knees and threw up. Sora wiped at his mouth, "Kingdom Hearts is everything out here to make me WORSE?"

"Kingdom Hearts? What's that?" Midna asked, turning her nose up at the acrid smell of vomit.

Sora stood- for real this time -and shook his head, "Never mind." He walked to the edge of the fog again, but the smell- with a new connotation -had gone from enticing to repulsive. He backed up, "How are we gonna get past this?" Midna only shrugged, until Sora walked out to a outcropping above the fog. He looked at a branch, followed by stones, and all were above the fog, "Midna?"

Midna flew over to it and held out her hand, "We can probably get across here." She helped Sora jump across. One, two, three, touch down. Sora walked up to a higher vantage point when he touched down on solid ground, and found another place to jump. The vessel blew towards a hollowed tree across the fog, but there were bats in the way. Midna waved him over again, "Come on, if you move fast enough and time it right they shouldn't be a problem."

Sora took a few steps back, then jumped. One, two, done.

The vessel clicked as it floated towards the empty space among what was once upon a time a tree's trunk. Sora put on his blindfold and readied his sword again. There were multiple hums, but how many, Sora didn't exactly know. He figured it was two again. He smashed one bug on the ground and stabbed at another, two soft pings signaling the light being freed. But there was still humming. He looked around, "Wh-"

He was smacked to the ground by a flying, angry hum. Sora sat up and swung blindly, "Gosh darn it! I said no more flying ones!"

"No," Midna flippantly added her own comment, "you just said you'd do something."

Sora cleaved the bug in two. He undid the blindfold and quickly collected the light. He counted the number of tears left to collect. "So I have one, two... Okay four left."

He walked on, and then found another spot to leap across the fog. Midna lead him higher into the treetops, and he whistled by some kind of creature. He paused to catch his breath and look down, "What was that?" A plant angrily hissed at him. And then some more hissed at him from behind. He turned around, seeing Midna hovering in a safe spot and waving him over with a grin that clearly said she'd enjoy this. Sora sighed, "Oh come on..."

Midna waved at him, "Well? You can't get back down without me!" Sora backed up, then leapt after Midna, getting scratched up by monsters along the way. Thankfully he landed on the ground in one piece. He bent over to catch his breath, then ended up sitting down. Midna sighed above him, "You are such a lazy child."

Sora glared at her, "I'll have you know you wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me." After a moment he realized that Midna really didn't know that if it wasn't for his efforts the the worlds- including hers -would have sunk into darkness.

Midna scooped him to his feet, "Sure, sure." Sora brushed her off. He then noticed small dust clouds moving along the ground. Experimentally, he stabbed his sword at one. Sparks flew up, and Sora quickly realized the bugs could burrow too.

"These things just won't take dying easy, will they?" Sora sighed and put his blindfold back on. He moved around to try and catch the bug, but it had burrowed under again. He began pacing slowly, trying to find at least one of the pair.

"You're gonna have to dig some more." Midna said, "I don't think you can just listen for them."

Sora fluttered his lips and undid the blindfold, "Fine, if they wanna do it that way." He then madly stabbed at the ground and stomped his feet. This went on for several exerting minutes, and Sora didn't even hesitate when blood began flowing from his mouth again. He coughed and held out his vessel as he collected the tears of light, "We really gotta get a move on..."

He looked at his hand when he was done, and found himself staring at it for a good minute after. It was turning a bruised, blackish color that was deepest at his now slightly longer and pointed fingertips. The taint to his veins went all the way up his arm now. He looked at Midna, "Uh... Is that..." He shook his head and ran for the open gate to the the tunnel that lead to the next segment of the woods, "Never mind that's definitely not good!"

...

Sora halted. There were shadow beasts waiting for him on the other side of the tunnel. He backed up a bit, "Okay, no, we're not playing that game again..."

"Well I can help you like I did last time." Midna sighed, "Or did you forget?"

Sora shook his head, "No, no I don't want to fight those things agai-"

"They'll only scream if you aren't careful." Midna pushed him into the fray, "Now buckle down and focus."

Sora's first thought was to summon his Keyblade, but he was lucky enough to catch the impulse and force it down. He cautiously eyed the beasts, noting one off to the right on its own and two to the left. He went for the duo, deciding to get the more unfair fight over with. He killed one, then the other, and was just about to move on to the third before it shrieked again. Sora stumbled to the ground, convulsing anew as his illness ravaged his body.

"Gods condemn you you're stupid!" Midna shrieked. She dragged him off and out of danger again, and once he recovered enough to swear and yell at her she shoved him into battle with the lone shadow beast. He killed it in an exemplary display fight or flight instinct.

Sora stumbled against a wooden structure that vaguely reminded him of a bridge, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, "Oh... I'm gonna be sick again...!"

Midna let him barf for a moment before guiding him back to the other two, "You still gotta kill the others!"

Sora swayed, trying to collect himself. The beasts lumbered towards him at a frightening speed, and Midna extended her energy field. One of the beasts knocked Sora to the ground and disrupted the field.

"Stay still!" Midna yelled as she brought Sora to his feet again, "I can't help you if I can't have something to focus my magic on!" Sora nodded shakily and grabbed at his shield to keep himself in one place. Except his shield wasn't there.

Sora turned around, "What-"

"HEY!" Midna yelled, and Sora turned back just in time to launch himself at the shadow beasts.

Sora swayed on his feet again, but managed to ram his sword into the ground deep enough to provide support. He glared at Midna, "Where's my shield?!"

"It fell off in the fog. You're lucky I could get the sword back." She yawned, "Not like you used it much anyways."

Sora pulled his sword back out and went on, "Well, we got two left..." He spat out some blood, and noticed a stall. He walked up to it, noting the liquids up for grabs. Sora looked left. He looked right. No one was manning the stall. He dipped his finger in the clearish liquid, and found it was oil. The second felt and looked eerily like blood, but a sweet taste met Sora's tongue when he licked it. "Huh, what is this?" He asked.

"Red potion. Heals you up." Midna explained, "Those bottles of yours might come in handy."

"Oh yeah!" Sora pulled put the bottles he'd been saving from potions, "They would."

After filling them up he set out again, following his vessel up a winding path, and eventually Sora found two sparks surrounding a flickering spirit. He smiled, "Good. I can get them both." He put on his blindfold, and found himself easily striking the insects down. He was getting used to this method of insect hunting.

He held out his hands to collect the tears, "These should be the last." The moment he finished saying so, the vessel glowed uncontrollably. Sora felt himself floating away, but not before he caught the glimpse of the black that covered his arms up to his elbows.

* * *

AND FINALLY FARON'S DONE. I gotta say fave highlight of the chapter would be the fog; I don't know where it came from, but I gotta say I think it's better than just the "oh no you touched the fog floop" way the game handles it.

Also what the frick frack is up with the black arms/hands hmm? Can't be _dangerous_ can it?


	8. A Piece of Peace

Sora opened his eyes to see that he was back at the spring, but he gasped in awe at the woods twinkling in midday. He looked around, "Wow... This is beautiful..."

"Indeed it is," Sora turned back around to see a monkey made of light- just like Ordona -hovering above the spring, curled around a ball of light and looking at Sora from his side, "because the woods of I, Faron, have been restored to light."

Sora and looked at his hands, delighted to see the sickness had waned back to just tainted veins on his wrists. Now that he thought of it, his head felt clearer, too, and once again he was wearing his jacket. Faron spoke again, prompting Sora to raise his head, "But this does not mean we are on friendly terms, foreign hero."

Sora did a double take, "E-excuse me?" He laughed, not knowing what else to do, "I-I just saved you!"

"Indeed you did." Faron said. He looked almost contemptuous though, "But in doing so you have condemned the one who by order of the gods should be standing there in your stead."

Sora felt his barrier of levity crumble, "Wait... I hurt someone?"

"Hurt, perhaps, but in truth I do not know." Faron almost seemed to shrug, "But I do know that the true hero of these lands is not you." Faron looked off towards Ordon, "He passed through here quite some time ago... A blue eyed beast dragged unwillingly into the twilight."

Sora finally recovered fully from the shock, and boldly declared, "Well, I'm saving you guys anyways. I can save this other guy, too, no problem." Faron stared at him. He seemed at a loss for what to say to the response. Sora nodded, "I can and I will."

Faron then changed the subject, "Your unwelcome intrusion upon the will of the gods aside, there is still he matter of the King of Twilight."

Sora nodded, "Now you're making sense."

Faron frowned a little deeper, "And that burden falls upon your shoulders, foreigner." Sora merely shrugged. He was used to things like that. Faron turned to deeper in the woods, "Long ago, the other light spirits and I sealed away dark power. Such power lies at the heart of Faron woods, within its abandoned temple." He turned back to Sora, "It is dangerous, deadly power. Pure shadow not meant to be held by the light. Unfortunately it is the only power to match the King of Twilight's."

"I'm gonna need to use a doomy artifact of doom, huh?" Sora tittered without much thought, "Yippee."

"This is no laughing matter." Faron reprimanded the boy again, "This entire world and its balance is at stake."

Sora shook his head with a sigh, "I have heard that way too many times to count." He then began walking away, "So go to the temple place at the heart of the woods," he recalled the area where he took out the last two shadow insects, "I think I know where that is." He waved over his shoulder, "Thanks for the directions Mr. Light spirit dude, bye."

"Your illness," Faron said softly, causing Sora to pause, "I do not know what Lanayru was thinking, leaving part of their light within you, but I suppose it is more of a curse than a blessing."

"Got that right." Sora huffed back, "They could've bothered to make sure that if I was saving in everyone I'd do it a little more comfortably."

Faron continued, "Perhaps Lanayru wanted you to be bound to this land, obligated to save it or else you perish with it."

Sora tilted his head back and forth as he thought the theory over, "Little mean, but makes sense. No one here really knows me." He then sourly added, "Except as a foreigner."

Faron faded away, "Oh, we know of your past deeds and the ones of your forebears, Keybearer..."

Sora rapidly turned only to catch the last and barest glimpses of Faron. He failed to notice Midna popping up next to him as he stared in surprise- and maybe light horror -where Faron used to be.

"Keybearer? What's all that about you rude little boy?"

Sora moved on, sloshing out of the spring with a huff, "None of your business." So they did know. All of the light spirits knew, probably. That added an interesting puzzle piece to this mess. Then again they should have been treating him with a little more respect, considering how much he helped the worlds.

Then again Faron also mentioned his "forebears". Sora had to think a moment on that word and supposed that the stupid monkey was referring to previous wielders of the Keyblade. Very quickly he differentiated himself from them, telling himself they were just in the past, and no way the past had such repercussions to blame him with. He remembered the stories he'd heard of the Keyblade War. More like a Keyblade massacre, the way Yen Sid described it.

"Hey! So someone isn't afraid to walk the woods anymore!"

Sora lifted his head from idle thinking to see a young man about his age waving him over. He had to lift an eyebrow at the ridiculous Afro that had a bird's nest nestled in its poof. Sora figured he'd humor the boy, "Well, there's nothing terribly scary about this place."

"Well, I dunno, man." The boy replied, "There was recently a bug problem, but I dunno where they all went." Sora had to suppress a laugh. Oh he knew where they went.

Sora held out his hand, "I'm Sora."

"Coro, nice to meet ya Sora." The boy replied. He then looked Sora over, "Hmm, wouldn't say that's Ordonian clothing."

"I'm from a ways off, someplace you probably haven't heard of." Sora quickly explained.

Coro then rummaged around in his pockets, "Say, you don't have a lantern, do you?"

"Uh, no, why would I need that?" Sora said, leaning back a little.

Coro held up a lantern, "These woods get pretty dark at night. Not to mention there's some weird fog down the way you were heading." He handed the lantern to Sora, "Here, it's completely full of oil and I'll give it to ya free of charge! If you need a refill I'll fill it for a price though. Good for the business, ya know?"

Sora inspected it with a smile, "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you." He then looked back, remembering his mission, "I really gotta get going, sorry." He backed up, waving goodbye to Coro and continuing on. Sora lit, his lantern, finding that the cavern leading to the next segment of woods could be handled much better now that he could somewhat see.

Midna struck up conversation with him in the safety of the cavern, "You were awfully ready to leave."

Sora shrugged, looking around in the dim light of his newly acquired lantern, "I don't want to waste time." He looked at his hand, noting how the taint had darkened and creeped up a barely noticeable amount. It was funny, he was using himself as a clock now, "I'm kinda dying here."

Actually saying the words made Sora's stomach lurch. Hadn't he told Kairi he'd be back soon? How many times did he have to answer to Riku's nagging about being careful with a callous and amused sigh? He looked ahead with a sudden blankness at the thought of failure. He was glad Midna respected the silence he brought with his introspections.

Sora walked out to see that the fog that had almost killed him wasn't keen on leaving. Rather than being bright fuchsia it was a more subdued lavender, but there was no mistaking the smell. Sora walked up to where Midna had guided him earlier, but she quipped, "You can find your own way now that you're not completely helpless, can't you you big boy?"

Sora was spurred on by the teasing, and he grabbed his shirt and pulled it up over his nose, "Well, here goes nothin'..." He waded into the fog with his makeshift gas mask, but soon backpedaled as he felt a drugged stupor overcoming him again. He tripped and fell over onto his rear, but it was away from the reach of the fog, and he surmised that was better than a sore butt.

He coughed and fanned at his face, "Eugh. Nope." He looked at his shadow, "Midna, come on, please?" She manifested out of his shadow and pulled at her eyes with mocking intent. Sora felt his face getting flushed in outrage, "You little-"

Something swiped his lantern away.

Sora looked at his hand, then ahead to see a monkey chittering and waving him along with the lantern suddenly dangling on a stick. He'd just about had it with all the bumps in what was supposed to be a smooth road. Midna popped out again as Sora's irate scowl deepened, "Well?! you gonna-"

Sora stood and screeched with lightning speed, "OKAY COME HERE YOU LITTLE CHIMP!"

The monkey squeaked and ran into the fog, but what surprised Sora most was that it shrank back from the light. He followed it through the purple mist, pulling his shirt back up just in case as he continued yelling and cursing at the primate thief and chasing after it.

"Man, and I thought you couldn't really get mad!" Midna giggled.

"SHUT UP." Sora snapped back with a backhanded slap in her general direction.

After a good, long and loopy path through the fog, Sora ended up on the other side of the forest without even the slightest fuzz of his head. He panted and doubled over, wheezing even as he looked around for the monkey.

He stumbled to his lantern, out of oil and abandoned on the ground, "Stupid thing used it all up..." He groaned, "Where am I gonna find more oil?"

"Wasn't there a store up ahead?" Midna suggested.

Sora rolled his eyes, "I don't have a single bit of mun- I mean, currency on me." He bit down on his tongue. He couldn't believe he almost slipped like that.

"I guess wherever you're from you use mun, whatever that is." Midna sighed. She produced a red gem, "We use rupees here in Hyrule. Green is one, blue five, yellow ten, red twenty, purple fifty... It goes on higher and I'll explain when I need to."

Sora accepted the twenty rupees, commenting, "Little inefficient."

"It's what we use." Midna replied. She shoved him off, "Now come on, weren't you he one who was so concerned about moving fast?"

Sora didn't give a comment to that remark, but it was clear he was ticked by it. He pushed through the monsters at the end of the tunnel easily, hardly giving them more thought than the weakest of Heartless. He stopped upon noticing a bridge, "Seriously, how does something like THAT get here?"

Midna pulled up next to him, "Ruin of some kind?"

Sora stood back and put a hand on his chin, "Too fresh. Not to mention there's no sign of anything it could lead to. It could conceivably go over our heads but it's too short for that." He shrugged and moved on, "But I guess it doesn't really matter."

Midna hug around in his shadow as long as she could, but was soon being dragged along. She caught back up to him and drifted around, "You okay? You've been pretty indifferent recently, kiddo."

Sora glared at her, then quietly moved on.

He walked up to the bird oddly talking and trilling for him to buy its merchandise (apparently it owned the store) and without a blink refilled his lantern. He continued trudging up the path, killed a few more monsters, and burned his way through the webbing and kindling leading into what he now knew was an abandoned temple.

When the flames gave out, he dipped into the shadows and stared at the darkness with hesitation. Caught in the twilight of light and darkness, the known and the unknown, safety and danger. One foot literally in the warmth of light that filtered through leaves with another fading into black and illuminated by a warm glow.

He gave one more look at the light, then dove into the dungeon.

* * *

And the adventure continues~! I'll keep the preview in as a kinda intermission between chapters, or maybe I'll lose it. Eh, I'll figure it out later.


	9. Into the Depths

The place was cool and dark. Maybe cool was too light a term to use and dark was underestimating. Sora had shivers up his spine and even with a lantern he couldn't tell what anything was until it was too late. He let out a soft sigh as he held up the lantern, noting his breath condensing in the gloomy air. This place had great insulation for being made in a gigantic tree, and not seeing sunlight or fire in years was probably not very good for temperature.

Sora knew he wouldn't have forever with his lantern, so he picked up a quick pace that was borderline reckless with his visibility. He could imagine Donald chastising him for going so fast. "You could trip, dummy!" The imaginary fowl wagged a feather at him, "And don't get me started on surprise attacks!"

As if it was his instincts telling him something, Sora ended up swinging his sword blindly and unprepared as he came across an ambush consisting of a plant monster and bats. He wiped off some sickly green juice from the plant and sighed in disgust. His instincts or subconscious or whatever was giving him that warning should've voiced their concern a little more clearly.

Sora then looked up to see a monster charging at him, and he dispatched the creature with another frenzied battle. His sword broke through something with a clatter of wood in the chaos, though he couldn't exactly see what. A fleeting shadow moved on before he could get a good look.

He cautiously put out his lantern when he saw torches on an upper floor, then walked up to and felt around the wall for a way up to them. "Leaves, vines..." He tested his weight, and smiled, "Okay, I can climb these." He managed to get a foot or two off the ground, ever pursuing towards the light, but then something sank fangs into his hand.

He fell back to the ground with a yowl of pain. Quickly his mind set to relighting the lantern and getting a better look at the wound. He hissed a little at the sight of a pair moderately deep puncture wounds that were oozing blood, "Snake? Bat?" He prodded his hand delicately, then grabbed his lantern and looked around, "What the he-" he lifted his lantern higher as he saw a spider the size of his hand retreating, "_oh_." He looked at his hand again. He wasn't sure if it was a venomous spider or not.

Sora was pulling out a potion and already had it uncorked before Midna said, "Walltullas aren't poisonous, idiot."

Sora closed the bottle, "Thank you for the _great_ timing on that." For some reason (perhaps his not very good mood mixed with a nostalgic memory of Donald and Goofy telling him this) he got fixated on correct terms and muttered, "And it's _venomous_. _Poison_ is what you eat and _venom_ is what bites." He then saw the spider fall off the wall and onto the ground shortly after that comment.

Twitch.

Twitch.

Dead.

Poof.

Midna grinned and disappeared back into his shadow with a giggle, "Then I guess _you're_ poisonous."

Sora stared at his hand, then brought his lantern as close as he dared to properly inspect the wound. His blood looked less red and more purple, to be honest. Maybe it was a fungus or something nearby rather than the blood, but there was an odd smell. He finally just settled on the bite being he equivalent of nonvenomous fangs, set the lantern down, pulled out some gauze, wrapped up his hand, and continued climbing.

This time anything that bit him he left alone and/or shook off, knowing it would probably die. It felt cruel, but what was he going to do about it? It was the stupid thing's fault for biting him in the first place.

When Sora reached the top he paused to catch his breath, dangling his legs back into the darkness. He looked around warily at the shadows and the roof made from what he figured was a thick canopy of trees, "I hope it's not always this dark." He then shook his head, "Who am I kidding, this place is abandoned."

"I like it like this. No one to bother us while you look for my little fused shadow." Midna's smug reply echoed around while Sora tended to other bite wounds.

Sora stood and checked his sword. He looked around for something cloth-like before sighing in disgust and wiping off the distasteful slime from the plant monster that remained with his jacket, "Well I don't like it one bit. In case you haven't picked things up I'm used to fighting with a crowd."

Midna laughed as Sora rolled the door to the next room inside, "Oh, a coward, are we?"

Sora halted as the door slammed back behind him. His voice was cold and even, "Excuse me?"

"Little 'fraidy Sora; scared of the dark, scared of fighting, scared of being alone. He hides behind his stupid friends who don't know-" Midna sang. Sora grabbed his sword and swung it around in blind anger to cut her off. He completely ignored the fact that Midna couldn't be hurt as a shadow and just swung and yelled.

Midna floated out of Sora shadow as he continued swinging at nothing, grinning wide and sniggering at the sight. Sora stopped with Midna to his back, growling, "Okay, where are you you little IMP!" He heard her burst into laughter behind him and he swung, stopping the blade inches from about where her neck was. Midna seemed unimpressed by his glare, perhaps because she knew he was a soft child at heart, but Sora had given this look before and scared many, "Quit toying around with me!"

Midna clicked at him, "Hmm, I would but you're too much fun."

Sora held his pose, "You know, I can somewhat at tolerate you messing with me, but even IMPLY ANYTHING about my friends and you're dead!"

Midna idly held up her hand, "Hmm, not dead. Guess I'm innocent." She flipped back into Sora shadow with another mocking grin.

Sora sheathed his sword with a cold grunt, stomped his shadow a few times, and moved on. He stopped, squinting at the distance of the new room, "Wait a sec that's..." His expression tightened back into anger.

Midna popped up next to him, "Oh hey, it's the monkey again."

Sora charged into the room, noticing now that it seemed less derelict and brighter than the previous one. There was grass and moss beneath his feet, but soon he was ascending creaking wood onto a square platform in the middle. He skittered to a halt when a spider- a BIG spider that was as long as he was tall with a white skull against its black abdomen -dropped in front of him and bared its fangs.

Sora's instincts kicked in and he held up his arm to block it. He yelled when the spider made a very good attempt to bite his arm off. As he frantically tried to strike the spider, Midna said, "Well, I didn't think you'd want to be Skulltulla chow."

Sora threw off the arachnid and stabbed it over and over, "NO. I. DON'T!" It crumpled in a bug-juice mess and disintegrated, leaving Sora panting and clutching his bloody arm. He whimpered as he held it up to look at it, "Ugh..." It wasn't as bad as other injuries he'd had (still had a scar from one time when Saïx practically disemboweled him) but his arm was feeling pretty useless and limp, bleeding profusely.

"I'm guessing these are venomous?" Sora asked with a weak whine.

Midna popped up and shrugged, "Yeah, I guess."

"Midna! 'I guess' is not a yes!" Sora shrieked at her. What if the numbness of his arm was paralyzing poison in his veins? It could've also been the spider getting lucky and screwing up some tendons, but Sora was much more worried about the former. He uncorked a potion and gulped the contents with no concern for his breath.

When the bottle was done he gasped for air, but then clutched at his heart. He covered his mouth, coughing a familiar rusty taste into his hand as he doubled over and fell to his knees. Was the potion not fast enough? Was he really poisoned? Nothing he knew was that fast, though...

Sora pulled back his hand with a dreary, confused look. No, the blackened fingers told a different story. His illness was merely reminding him it was still there. He sank back on his haunches, "I guess it acts up when I'm under pressure." he felt his pulse a moment, then nodded, "Yeah, seems like if my heart rate goes up too high..." He swallowed back another cough.

Midna appeared to him with a grin, "You know, they aren't poisonous. Couldn't you tell I was toying with you?" While Sora glared at her she examined his arm, "Honestly just looks like what happened is you got hit in the right places."

Sora undid the bandages on his hand and other bite wounds. There wasn't any point to them now that the wounds had healed. He glanced up when he heard chittering to see the monkey looking at him with what he guessed was concern.

Sora said the first thing that came to his mind, "You stole my lantern you dumb chimp." She (Sora was pretty sure the monkey was a she from the flower in its ear) chattered and whined some more. The monkey seemed quite bashful and sorry. Sora knelt down, his temper subsiding as he realized something, "Then again, you did get me through the fog..." The monkey squeaked excitedly. She then whimpered a little and touched his arm. Sora smiled; she was worried about him! "I-I'm fine. I'm sorry I've been kinda mean to you."

The monkey then tugged his arm towards a door to the north, and Sora took a look around to see the one he entered to the south and two more to the east and west. None but the way he came in could be reached, though. Maybe in the temple's heyday there were steps to them but now all sat there with no way to reach them.

Sora shrugged, "I don't think I can get there." He pulled out his lantern again, "But maybe if I get a better view of things..." He lit it and took note of the torches on the corners. Sora walked up to one of the torches and lit it, then did the same for the three others-

Sora jumped when steps to the north door sprang up. He laughed when he recovered, "Heh, da da da da, I did it."

The monkey scampered ahead and waved for him to come over. Sora put out his lantern and followed. He paused to open a chest, and found a map of the place. He grinned, "Just what I need."

The monkey squeaked at him impatiently, and Sora walked over and opened the door. He was blasted with cold air from powerful winds. They stopped after a moment, oddly enough. Sora walked out to see the chimp waving him over to a wooden bridge, and it began crossing. Sora saw another monkey at the other end though, "Hey is that a friend of yours-"

Something came rushing at him, and he dodged it as it made a turn around him and back to the bridge. The object cut the bridge down with no trouble, but fortunately the monkey came back with little trouble. Crossing was a different story with the bridge out. Sora, however, knew that it was still crossable to a degree. He climbed up the poles that still remained, then carefully got on the support ropes left.

The monkey squealed at him. Get down you idiot! Get down!

Sora began shimmying across the rope (after all actually balancing on it would be stupid even by his standard with the wind around) and shook his head, "I'll be fine you silly monkey." He managed halfway, and was feeling pretty good. He stopped and held onto the rope for dear life when the winds picked up, but then managed to shimmy across all the way.

The monkey was screaming for him to get back over where she was, but Sora waved his hand, "I'll be fine, I promise-" he lurched and threw up a little. He shook his head to try and clear the nausea, "Jeez, I should really find out what my limits are..."

Midna appeared for the first time in what seemed like ages, "Yeah, you really should. I can't have you dying on me!" Sora smiled at the thought of Midna changing, but frowned when she added, "Not when you still need to find my fused shadows."

Sora sighed, then stood back up. He turned to the door, "Okay, she wanted me to go here." He opened it and dove right in.

* * *

Before I get complaints that "this isn't how the game went DX" lemme just say two things:

1) This is Sora, not Link, handling things

2) I've been playing Skyward Sword recently so that prob in TP seems just silly (jump up and shimmy across the rope simple as that doy)

3) you try novelizing a dungeon without it sounding like a walkthrough


	10. Wendy

Sora didn't need to look for the other monkey much. Mostly because it was sitting right in front of him. It hopped off onto one of the many totem poles in the room with a screech, and bared its weapon.

"A boomerang, huh? So that's what it was." Sora mused to himself. He held up his hands, figuring this monkey was friendly like the other, "Hey now, I'm not gonna-"

The boomerang barely whirled past him, and cut down several chomping plant monsters from the roof on its return trip. Sora began running from the things, surprised that what amounted to just a mouth and plant fiber could move so fast. He drew his sword and pointed it at the monkey as he continued running from he plants, "Well okay then, fight it out it is."

Unfortunately catching up to the darn chimp was easier said than done. As far as Sora could tell the jumps between poles was too erratic to predict. He couldn't really climb up any of them anyways. They weren't anchored at all, his own weight could send the thing crashing down.

So Sora tried throwing his sword. Once again it worked better in principle than practicality, and his bad arm didn't help. The boomerang continued cutting up plant monster mooks to send after him or even giving Sora a solid whack upside his head, and thanks to that couldn't get his throw to aim right, nor could he even get enough velocity for it to either catch up with the monkey or even get close. He was doing nothing but tire himself out.

Sora was running from another set of plants, scrambling to get his sword, when Midna popped up again, "Are you always this bad at fighting?"

Sora stabbed through her incorporeal form and killed a plant, "No, not really." He began running after his true opponent again, starting to wheeze slightly. He ignored his bloody nose and threw his sword again, "Slow down you stinking coward!"

When it once again missed, Midna shook her head, "I don't think that'll ever work, idiot."

Sora picked up his sword and glared at the monkey laughing at him and smacking its rear. He then moved right up to the totem pole and gave it a good, strong roundhouse kick, "It's not funny!" Imagine his surprise when the monkey got smacked by its own boomerang, lost its balance, and fell to the ground.

Sora walked up to it and gave it a few solid whaps on its butt, and was about to give a few more, but stopped when he noticed the odd insect on its head. He put one foot on the monkey so it wouldn't escape, then pried off the parasite. When the bug scrambled at the air for dear life, Sora killed it with a single stab.

He heard whimpering behind him, and turned to see the monkey in a decidedly not offensive mood. It then saw him, mistook his confused look for an angry glare, and it leapt off to other parts of the abandoned temple with frightened squeaks. Sora sighed, "Jeez, what was the point of this-"

The boomerang swelled into the air on a gust of wind and flew towards Sora. Sora caught it easily enough, and blinked when he heard a voice on the wind, "I am the fairy of winds that resides in this boomerang. Thank you for freeing me from the evil that has imprisoned this place."

Sora held out the boomerang as it twirled around in its own little whirlwind, "Wasn't always like this, huh?"

The boomerang's breathy voice returned, "No, not quite. Ever since the fused shadow was sealed here this has been a corrupt dwelling." It then dipped a little towards him, "But I digress, to express my gratitude, I wish to help you on your journey. I can tell you are a kind hearted soul."

Sora grinned, "Sure, I guess. Something long range is bound to be handy for combat." The boomerang's winds stopped and it fell into Sora's outstretched hands, as if to say that it agreed. He flipped it around, examining the wing like design and the gem in the center that gleamed with some sort of script engraved in the beveled metal that held it.

Sora then realized he didn't get a name from the fairy, "Oh, gosh, I need to call you something..." He grinned and held it out like a sword, "I guess you'll be Wendy then. That's a nice name for a fairy of winds." He began walking out, but he stopped when he realized the door had locked shut behind him with a haphazard portcullis of branches. He must have forgotten about it in all the chaos that ensued.

Sora held up "Wendy" as if it would lend him an idea. He then saw that it did; from his vantage point the tip pointed at a fan of some sort above the door. Sora grinned, then held it popped up again, "Do you even know how to use that thing?"

Sora threw it, "Nope."

The boomerang flew out in a gust of wind, then whirled around the fan before coming back. The portcullis rose slightly. Sora held up his boomerang again, "Come on, a few more times, Wendy."

As the boomerang did its thing, Midna gave Sora a creeped out glance, "Naming it is kinda weird."

Sora caught it and bounced over to the way out, "Well, a fairy lives in here and I don't know her name. Gotta call her something, right?" He smiled when the wind outside greeted him. He also noticed dusk was filtering into the light, "It's gonna be night soon. Better find a safe place to rest."

He considered shimmying back, but then he saw a set of whirling bridges to his left. He used Wendy again to set up the bridges for use, and walked across. He drew his sword upon noticing the monster ahead, and managed to decapitate it with little trouble. Sora wiped off his sword on the grass with a disgusted sigh, "Just about as easy as Heartless, but way more gross-"

Sora paused and cocked his head. Midna floated up to him, "Okay, what's the deal-"

"Shh." Sora interrupted her. He closed his eyes, trying to pinpoint the odd, squeaky noises as the wind picked up again. He looked at the shadowy imp beside him, "You hear somethin'?" Midna glanced up, but then disappeared back into Sora's shadow.

Sora looked up to see a monkey trapped in a cage above him, "Oh!" He backed up a bit and held up his boomerang again, "Hold on buddy, I'll get ya out!" He threw it and the cage crashed to the ground. Sora bent over, "Um, sor-" the monkey ran off.

Sora shrugged, "Well..." He forgot what he was going to say. He wiped up his nose, realizing he'd completely forgotten about the dripping blood. He stopped and blinked a moment when he realized his hand was black now. He flexed it a bit, observing that his fingers were squarer at the tip as well, and maybe slightly longer and thinner? No, he had to be imagining things at that.

Sora continued on his way, going past more bridges as the light faded around him. He paused before heading back inside, "Twilight... Really isn't that bad. It's pretty..." He stopped to laugh, "Well, pretty."

Midna spoke up as Sora marched back into the gloom, "That's what you light-dwellers always miss."

Sora shrugged at her. He took a look around, trying to adjust to the dim light again. He stepped back down to the central platform and paused to light his lantern. He looked left; right. This wasn't the central room he thought it was, "Whoops..." He noticed things shifting and changing in the darkness outside of his lanterns reach, but more thankfully he found a doorway not too far off.

He managed to get himself back into the real central room, and he put out his lantern, "There we are." He waved over to the monkey, who was sulking on the central platform. She squeaked to attention, and she hopped onto the rope with her feet while holding out her hands. Sora got the message, and backed up before taking a running leap. He caught the monkey's hands and found himself swinging.

Normally Sora would've gotten off the first swing or two, but a sudden burst of nausea caused him to hesitate at his timing. When he did jump off he tumbled onto the wood. Sora covered his face with a groan. His world kept spinning just because he went back and forth too many times. He threw up, and he could tell the monkey went off elsewhere.

When Sora finally had himself under control, he looked for his companion, "Hey? Uh, here chimpy-chimpy..." He saw that the monkey was ready to swing him across again and he stopped. He moaned, "Do I have to?"

The monkey gave a sad squeak in reply.

Sora shook his head, then once again went across. This time he got off as fast as possible, and was relived to find it was fast enough to leave him only dizzy. He swayed and stumbled into the next room, and fumbled with his lantern to light the pitch black hallway. Sora managed to drop his lantern, and he swore.

Followed by a dim red glow and a hissing noise.

Sora yelled in surprise and scrambled away, forsaking his lantern for his own safety. He curled up and covered his ears, and an explosion roared behind him. He peeked over his shoulder, "What was that?"

The hallway had extended to a hidden room with a lit torch, and silhouetted against the light was what looked like a rock on stilts. Or maybe it was a bug, Sora noted as the thing hobbled down into its own little nook. Sora cautiously veered around it and picked up his lantern. He wasn't surprised to see that he'd lost some oil, but in a pleasant surprise it was less than he expected.

Sora moved on to the extended hallway, and found nothing but pots. He kicked one, "Totally worth the explosion." He heard a ceramic ring, like one had moved. He kicked his pot again, hearing it make noise, but when it stopped there was another. Sora lit his lantern and held it out the other way, "Hey, anyone there?" He drew his sword, "If you're a monster, I'll have you know I kill 'em and eat 'em for breakfast."

"Ewww." Midna whined.

Sora sighed, "I don't actually eat them, it's called a stinkin' threat." He heard chittering behind him, and he turned to catch a glimpse of something yellow darting into a pot. He approached the pot, holding up his sword and lantern. He nudged it with his foot. It nudged him back. Sora tipped it back with his sword, "Okay, who's in there? Come out or I'll smash the thing." More chittering, but still hushed and engaged in other conversation.

Sora sheathed his sword, figuring he shouldn't waste the sharpness of his blade on ancient pottery, "Okay then, you asked for it." He set down his lantern, picked up the pot, held it over his head, and smashed it on the ground.

And then he really didn't know what he was looking at.

At first glance whatever was in that pot was distinctly avian in nature, looking like a chicken, but honestly it was something different altogether. The head was uncannily human and oblong with a trail of plumage that ran down its thin neck and looked almost like breasts. The body was the only thing Sora could really call a chicken, and was covered in yellow downy feathers supported by standard chicken legs.

"Well, young man, you could be a little more careful! I wasn't going to hurt you at all I was just stuck!" The thing said.

Sora resisted every impolite urge to scream "What are you?!" and other rude things, and gave a strained smile, "Sorry, I thought you were a monster." With trepidation he held out his hands and picked up what he dubbed the What-The-Cluck in his head, "I-I didn't think I'd find a... A um..." He cocked his head, his smile becoming more concerned and confused as his voice began whining, "Wh-who are you, exactly?"

"I'm Ooccoo of the Occa." The bird replied.

Sora stiffened when a babyish version of Ooccoo's head with tiny wings flew over, "And I'm Ooccoo Jr.!"

Sora swallowed a moment and closed his eyes; these two were so strange it was getting creepy even by his standards and wide range of acceptance. He smiled anew and nodded his head, "Okay, right."

"You may not think I look like much, but I can be quite quite helpful!" Ooccoo said, giving their first impression that they registered Sora's discomfort. "Do you want to leave? If so I can warp you right out!"

The head nodded, "Yeah, momma is very good at that!" It dipped a little, "But I'm not very good at it. I can only warp back to momma."

Sora set Ooccoo down, "No, no thanks. I'd prefer to stick around somewhere sheltered for the night, I'm good." He sighed and turned around, peering back into the darkness, "I'm helping someone look for something."

"We're looking for something too, dear!" Ooccoo got in front of Sora, "We can search together!"

"No thanks." Sora's reply probably came out too fast. He then smiled the offer's great, but I can hold my own."

Ooccoo Jr. floated up to him again, "Are you sure mister? You don't look too healthy."

"My son is right," Ooccoo said, "you look dreadful. Are you sure you don't want our help?"

Sora shrugged, "I just need to sleep." Sora sheathed his sword and walked on, "The offer is lovely..." He had to think a moment; he knew that sometimes 'momma' didn't completely denote the right gender, like with sea horses, "miss. I don't need your help."

He turned and waved goodbye, "It was lovely meeting you and your darling son, but I gotta get going." Sora nodded at the wings waving him goodby before hopping along through the rest of the hall and coming out to a new, brighter room that had pond water covering about half it's floorspace.

Sora sighed with a shudder, "Remind me to avoid those two, ehhhughhhh..."

Midna's reply was equally creeped out, "I can agree to that."

Sora noticed a set of fans he could spin with Wendy and he hopped he fastest route to it. Honestly he felt bad about not liking Ooccoo and her(?) son- they were nice... People -but honestly there was something about them that rubbed Sora in an incredibly bad way.

He hopped onto the stretch of land with the fans, and smiled, "Hey, that's a fancy chest!" He pressed himself up against the bars, looking at the ornate chest behind them. He tried squeezing through, but that was hopeless. He tried shoving the, aside when he noticed the wheels, but they were locked in place.

Sora sighed again and kicked the dirt, "Darn, I was hoping your fused shadow was in there."

"Well if it is don't give up just yet doofus." Midna growled. She appeared and yanked on Sora's hair when he didn't reply, "Hey! You listening to me?"

Sora yells and grabbed at his hair, then glared at her. He gestured to the ground, denoting the 'Z' pattern in whiter soil linking the fans, "I was looking for the answer." He held up his boomerang and silently went over the order, and tossed it. He expected it to come back and he'd have to blow them one at a time, but the whirlwind moved on to the others before returning to Sora's grasp as the gates opened.

Sora walked over to the chest, "I'm pretty good at this."

"Don't get your hopes up there's still two more to find-" Midna said before she glared at the spoils of the chest.

Sora picked up the onyx key that was about the length of his forearm, "Well this is useful..."

Midna shook her head, "Please tell me that was sarcasm."

Sora shrugged, "Kinda. But I mean, it makes sense if a key this fancy would go to something really important, right?" He smiled hopefully, "It might get us to the fused shadow."

Midna flew back into his shadow, "Whatever."

Sora then looked around; he was pretty tired. He was ready to go to sleep. He noticed a pathway partially submerged nearby, and he jumped into the water to follow it. After all, he could use water as a natural barrier against monsters.

Sora regretted his choice when he realized the water was ice cold, but he pushed through until he was in a small room carved into a tree with a unlit torch. Trembling, he lit his lantern and lit the torch. He hovered around it for a moment to get himself dry, then put out his lantern and looked around for dry scrubs to use as kindling. He looted another chest and found a yellow gem. After a moment of thought, he decided the empty thing would be a nice place for a fire.

"What are you doing? We gotta find that door!" Midna sighed.

"And I gotta sleep." Sora yawned. He lit the dry grass he found and pressed it against the wooden chest, and settled in against the wall when a small blaze began. His features crumpled into a tired frown, "Gosh, one day and no luck."

"We didn't spend a whole day," Midna insisted on getting Sora moving again, "we started in the afternoon because of your lazy bum!"

Sora swatted her away, "Regardless of that I haven't slept properly in awhile, so if you want me to be at the top of my game I need a nap." He was surprised at how easy it was for him to settle in, even if he was still cold because of the water. His eyes began drooping. He coughed a little. His eyes closed, and in a surprisingly tender voice he mumbled, "Minda, can you watch the fire...?"

Before she could reply he was passed out.

* * *

Say it with me: Occa were definitely "What-The-Cluck"

But yeah sorry if this isn't up to your standard writing dungeons is a freaking chore just be happy I updated


	11. The First Shadow

Sora was glad to feel himself drifting around. Voluntary sleep was a pleasant feeling that gave him the slightest tingle of his energy coming back to him. It seemed far too short when he opened his eyes, but then he realized he wasn't where he drifted off.

The night sky glittered with stars that either cast their light out in the darkness or streaked across it. He could feel slightly warmed stone behind him, his feet weren't quite touching the ground and bent rather than extended in front of him. He looked around to see he was sitting on a marble bench nestled in a corner of a beautiful mountain garden that was lit by warm lanterns.

Sora knew this place, and he stood. He knew it was a dream, but it would be nice to have something pleasant for once; it helped that he felt completely back to normal for once without a single pain in his head, his hands weren't coated in darkness, and there was no indication that he was ill. He was good ol' Sora again.

Sora smiled at the familiar sight dozing off several feet away. He crept up to the young boy and bent down with a grin, "Heya Ven."

The boy blearily opened his blue eyes, then jumped at the sight of Sora, "WOAH!" While Sora laughed, Ventus turned onto his knees, "Gimme a break Aqu-" he blinked and stopped himself, "Oh, Sora!"

Sora smiled and bowed, "The one and only!"

Ventus grabbed him in a playful headlock and fussed with Sora's brown spikes, "Man, where have you been? Kairi's worried sick about you!"

Sora laughed and shrugged Ventus off, "I said it would be a small trip."

Ventus wagged a finger at him with a mockingly parental tone, "And it's been a few days, mister."

Sora shrugged, "There's a lot to see." He then folded his arms and leaned in towards Ven, "And what was with you almost calling me 'Aqua'?"

Ventus plopped down on the edge of the cliff nearby, "Well, a lot of my dreams are more memories, if that makes sense." Sora sat down next to him as he continued explaining, "This one's the most common; best night of my life." Ventus looked a little more wistful, belying his youthful appearance, "The last night I spent with Terra and Aqua before everything went downhill."

Sora realized he'd hijacked the dream, and apologized, "Oh, I'm sorry this one must mean a lot to you-"

Ventus waved his hand, "It does, it does," he smiled at Sora, "but I see it all the time. It's nice to see you again, what's up?"

And with those words Sora began explaining his adventures so far. Except he quietly noticed his hands blackening in the dream and began hiding them. He left out the danger and the miserable parts and the fact that he was off saving an entire world with so little help it might as well have been single-handedly. He said he'd be gone awhile longer- how long, he didn't know -but he neglected to let Ventus know that he was in any danger. It was best if he wasn't fretting over Sora like he did; Ven tended to become a doting, overprotective parent when it came to Sora.

Ventus nodded, "Hyrule sounds like a neat place, I think I'll go sometime." He stood up, "Maybe now, I can wake up and-"

"Nah, I don't need anyone comin'." Sora quickly said, "If you don't mind, I want Hyrule to myself for awhile."

Ventus sat back down, looking confused but compliant, "Okay then..." He glanced down at Sora's hand, and gasped.

Sora quickly pulled it into his jacket, "I'm fine. I'm fine, Ven." He felt himself growing sick; a nosebleed returned, rust was filling his mouth. Even worse, his arms were getting colder and colder even without the jacket.

Ventus tore off the jacket, not buying what Sora had said, "Sora, what's going on?! You said everything was alright!" Sora stared at his arms, marveling at how before his eyes the black forms became distorted and gangly, his hands stretched and grew. He noticed that lines formed on his arms that looked like geometrical tattoos, and strength that he didn't have began pulsing through them. He choked back a burst of brackish and too dark blood, but it dribbled down his mouth anyways.

Sora's last sight before bolting awake were his own horrid hands leaping at Ventus to choke him, Ven's blue eyes filling with fear, and his own nightmarish face with yellow eyes reflected in them.

Midna jumped up when Sora launched himself into a sitting position, "Jeez, you look like you've seen a poe."

Sora clutched his chest, wheezing. It felt like something was choking HIM. He coughed up blood and curled up as he tried to get himself back to normal. He covered his face, retching with coughs. When the attack left, it left Sora panting. He stared at the ground between his legs, trying to think straight with his pounding head.

He looked around, feeling dread in his stomach. He hoped Ventus was okay. Dream or not that was dangerous... Midna popped into his vision, "Hey, spiky-locks, are you alright?"

Sora looked at his arms, "Fine." He noticed that the black wasn't as bad as it was in the dream; just up to a third of his forearm. It covered his hand completely and from the beginning of his wrist to the end of the darkness it was about as long as his palm. He then blinked. He looked at the torch, noting it was dim embers, and the fire was nothing but cold ash. He lit his lantern and held up his arm.

Before his lantern sputtered out, he caught a glimpse of a line barely formed. He shook the lantern, "No! Come on, you can't be out of oil already!"

"You're freaking out a bunch." Midna scoffed, "Maybe you shouldn't've napped."

Sora sighed. He then stood and waded back into the water, "Well, I guess I gotta get moving." The cold woke him up more, and numbed some of his panic. He was grateful for that as he found a spot to climb back up onto shore with. Cold chased away the fear. Woke him up from that dreary land between waking and sleep.

He looked around, trying to see where to head. He managed to leap around to the northward door he'd passed by earlier, and entered it on a hunch. He used his boomerang to arrange the bridge and walked across easily. The new room was one wind-driven bridge in the center occupied by a monster with four different ways to go. Sora opened the chest to his right and dug out a small key, "Well, this could be useful, I guess."

He changed the bridge and crossed while the monster was trapped on the other side (not neglecting to taunt the thing), and entered a larger room with a large and heavily chained door across the way. He took a step, almost fell off, then glanced down. He quickly realized that the way across didn't have a bridge, nor a bottom. There were bridges to the side, though, that lead upward to a better viewpoint on a cliff, and Sora followed them into another monster encounter that he couldn't avoid.

As the thing vanished into its smoky death, he wondered over how good he'd gotten at monster dispatchment, "Huh, a year or two ago I wouldn't adapt as fast..."

Midna popped out of Sora's shadow as he began using Wendy again to clear the vines for travel, "What were you doing a year or two ago, then?"

Sora climbed on, "None of your business." It would be a little hard to explain all those inter-world hijinks without saying something he shouldn't.

"Why'd you mention it, then?" Midna sighed. Sora shrugged, trying to climb with the shadowy weight of Midna pouting on his shoulder, "You're such a weird kid."

Sora pulled himself up and dusted off his pants, "Not weird, just different." He readied for battle again as another monster charged, "But if you really wanna know," (Donald would kill him for saying some things, he had to be tactful) jab, jump to the side, "a year or two ago my home got destroyed." slash, topple, dead. Sora sheathed his sword, "I got tossed into the fray. You learn quick that way."

He surveyed his surroundings from this higher vantage point while Midna made an interested hum. She invaded his vision moments later, "You're skinny now, probably were even smaller then, how'd you make it?"

Sora put a foot on the wooden railing and observed the jump to the big, important door that he _supposedly_ couldn't get to. He held up his hand and judged it some more (the distance was pretty small, actually) and deliberated on his stupid idea while Midna snapped, "Well? What's your secret? Do you have some kind of almighty power?"

Sora backed up a few feet. He said absently, "Yeah, I do."

Midna looked around, "What are you doing?"

Sora began running.

Midna yelled as she was dragged along with, "KID?! KID WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Sora jumped an incredible distance, and managed to get to the other side- and that door -pretty easily. Except he had to hold onto the edge for dear life for a moment or two; he didn't jump far enough. His legs waved in the air as they tried to get a solid footing somewhere. "M-Midna! MINDA HELP!" Sora yelled as moss made his grip slip around.

"You IDIOT!" the imp replied as she bumped Sora up onto solid ground. Sora rolled onto his back and stayed there a moment. Sora laughed- and choked as he vomited again. Midna waved her arms and ponytail around, "What on earth were you thinking?! Are you insane now?! has that stupid illness of yours gone to your brain?! I need you alive, you know!"

Sora coughed a little, now on his knees. He smiled at her through his suffering as if he was proud of something, "That's my secret. Friends. Teamwork." Minda grew limp for a moment, then went back into Sora's shadow with a frustrated groan. The last thing she needed was lectures on a silly thing like friendship.

When she vanished, Sora held his head. Everything was spinning. He could barely think straight. He threw up a little more. Very softly he laid back down and closed his eyes. Breathe in, breathe out. He needed to think straight if there was anything else ahead. Breathe... Breathe...

Sora chuckled at the thought of his friends, then opened his eyes with a small frown. Gosh, they'd be so worried if they knew, he thought. Then again, he didn't want anyone else getting this little "twilight fever" of his. It was miserable. Best to settle it on his own and then live out his little vacay afterwards and come back saying it was a good time.

After a moment or two he stood, and found himself staggering to the door. He grabbed a chain, intending to see if it was rusted enough to break by hand, then saw the grandiose lock connected to it. He pulled out the key he'd gotten with Wendy's help and compared.

He put it in, turned it, and entered at the solemn click.

...

The room smelled dank and rancid, like mold. The rotten wood gave way to untamed grass while water gurgled somewhere. Sora's eyes adjusted, and he walked up to the spring-fed pond. He touched the abnormally thick- but still identifiable as -water and smelled the lingering drops on his fingers, then grimaced, "Eugh, poisoned."

A gigantic plant monster bloomed from the spring and roared at Sora. Sora closed his eyes as the hot breath (and some spit, disgustingly) from the roar blew past him, as well as mist from the spoiled spring. Sora opened his eyes when the plant finished to see an eyeball glaring at him from a stalk that was probably meant to be a tongue nestled in fleshy petals.

Sora had one comment as he held his nose and wiped at the air, "You figure a plant would have better dental habits."

Sora rolled aside as the beast lunged at him, obviously not amused by the comment about its halitosis. He then felt something else- something still big and bloom-like but a little smaller -duck at him and he swayed to avoid another monster head, "Oh! He has a buddy!"

Midna gave her own comment as Sora began dodging more vines and two heads ready to eat him for lunch, "Very astute. Now goodbye I don't want to end up in a plant's digestive juices."

Sora tried swinging his sword while the heads attacked (even learning that there was another smaller head, making twins) but they were a little too fast. Then they got the brilliant idea to stand back and spit water at him. He had no room left for swordplay now.

Sora was now running, trying to formulate some kind of plan. He pulled out Wendy and tried hitting the beast with that, but it was a tickle more than anything, and brought back mists of the water that made Sora cough. He dodged another blow, "Hmm, okay, too fast to really whittle it down like that..." He wiped water off of his face, sputtering, "Nope can't really use this. The thing lives off of this."

He then saw a little bug clinging for dear life on a log in the water. Sora maneuvered to get a better look and grinned, "Hello you little bomb-thing!" The bug squeaked as if it realized what Sora was about to do, but that was all it could do before a boomerang swept it up and right into the plant.

It howled and fell onto the shore with its eye-tongue lolling onto the ground. Sora laughed "Ha! Got you!" He began swinging wildly at it, trying to get the kill in quick before it roused from its stunned state.

"ACK! Aw man..." disappointingly, he had to jump away or become monster snack. And then Sora realized he had no bomb-bugs left.

While he sat there, wondering what he'd have to do, a head scooped him up. He banged against it, "No! No, bad plant-thing! PUT ME DOWN!" He felt a few teeth digging in, maybe drawing blood, but continued yelling and slashing. He was NOT getting eaten before twenty. That'd definitely ruin a lot of things.

Something exploded, and Sora found himself rolling to the ground. He shook his head and looked up at the squeaks that followed the ringing in his ears. "You?!" Sora gasped. The monkey he'd given a good spanking earlier grunted in reply and held up a bomb-bug, then began swinging across.

It took Sora a moment or two to stand again. He bent down, grabbing at the toothy marks at his sides. Sora straightened himself and raised his boomerang, "Wendy, you know what to do!"

The monkey dropped the bomb.

Wendy picked it up and sent it back at the monster.

Sora went in and finally cut off that tongue, getting slimed with blood and spit and it howled and writhed in the process.

Sora smiled- or at least tried to; he was coated in monster fluids that tasted bitter and disgusting and just plain _nasty_ -as light started filtering in as the plant withered, and then finally it exploded into millions of black particles, leaving the spring just as it was ages before the beast made it its lair.

Sora collapsed with a sigh, "Jeez, what a workout..." He covered his mouth and quietly coughed. More than anything he was tired. Bleeding out a bit too, he'd need to take care of that. Sora pulled out some bandages and began wrapping them around himself.

But he felt... good? Something went right. Not to mention adrenaline pounding in his ears was a welcome refreshment. It felt a lot like some of those days with Donald and Goofy when they took down a particularly dangerous foe. The memories he was reminded of were comforting. He couldn't really stop coughing, but it wasn't horrible or hacking. Just like he had a cold. Of course then he wiped up his chin and realized maybe he was gonna pass out some time soon. He downed a potion, deciding it was worth losing a ration now.

Midna flew out of his shadow, "That's what I was looking for!" Sora watched her grab a black piece of carved and fractured stone from the air. The hairs on his neck stood up, and for a second he thought he recognized what Riku told him was the scent of darkness. He even got a different taste in his mouth, like he forgot to brush his teeth before bed and his mouth filled with that sickly morning breath taste.

Midna showed it off to him, "Good work, spiky, good work! This is a fused shadow, one of three pieces." She stowed it away with her magic and a sigh, "Those other stupid Light Spirits probably have the other two."

Sora nodded, "Not bad, then. Just need to get on their good side."

"Nah, not that easy," Midna floated over and made a dark square that lapsed into a jagged, geometrical black thing with rigid cyan lines and circles that seemed to try and suck away the air. "They probably sealed them off somewhere like the piece we nabbed here." she continued.

Sora hesitantly approached the darkness, deducing on his own it was a portal. And that it was related to Midna's realm, the twilight, "Is that safe?"

"Well I'm taking you back to the spring the fast way." Midna's ponytail flipped his face up like he was being silly. When Sora continued to have a doubting look, she added, "This won't make you worse." Sora still didn't seem to want to go through it, and Midna impatiently grabbed his wrist, "Come on!"

Sora felt himself getting ripped apart into tiny little squares of matter. His stomach rose into his chest in the most unpleasant way, and he wondered if it was possible to throw up if you were racing along as one-dimensional shadows flying through some sort of railing or pipework. And then he felt his feet on solid ground, followed by his shins, his knees, his thighs, his waist, piling on top of each other like building blocks with a settling feeling that could only be likened to your spine shuddering.

And then Sora blinked in the dappled sunlight of Faron Woods once more. He shook his head, "Midna!"

"Valiant Sora..."

Sora's head snapped up. That voice was very clearly not Midna, "Do not think Hyrule is now saved from the spread of twilight. Leave these woods and go west to the lands protected by the spirit Eldin... And know that now those lands lie cloaked in twilight, a dark realm covered by the clouds of dusk."

Sora nodded at the bodiless light spirit, and turned to head on his way. One more warning rang in the air, "Your body will get worse. It will deteriorate and die within those lands. Be prepared..."

Sora hesitated a moment, turning back. Faron had nothing else to say, apparently, because only bird calls met his ears. Sora sighed, "Thank you for being vague." He sat down by the spring and splashed water on his face, "I guess I could at least get a bath."

Midna popped out of his shadow, "Well, searching will at least be easier now that we know we need to go west."

Sora nodded and stood, "Yeah, I'm sure it shouldn't be too far..." He mused aloud as he walked west (Donald and Goofy had taught him excellent directional ability), "Then again that was a pretty big field... How far does Eldin control, anyways? I mean, if there's four Light spirits they control four regions. Are they all equally big or does one have more than the rest? That seems a little unfair..."

He paused, realizing he had walked out of the woods into a huge section of the very field he was talking about. The western sky was filled with an aurora of orange, yellow, black, and the occasional green, doming over what must have been Hyrule in twilight. Sora nodded, "Interesting. So that's what it looks like from our side." He then saw the length between, "Hmm, not bad."

Midna appeared on his shoulder as he began jogging along the path, "Not bad?! That's gonna take forever!" Sora rolled his eyes as the imp whined the whole way, complaining about the monsters, the sun, Sora's silent treatment, anything, really. She rambled and rambled on with complaint.

Sora continued ignoring her by commenting, "I wonder if we'll find those Ordon kids..."

"Who cares?" Midna sighed, "We didn't see a sign of them in Faron."

Sora, meanwhile, was tromping to a slower pace as the light dimmed, "Hold on it's only been a few... hours..." He stopped at the sight of a black wall that seemed to be sucking any luminosity away.

Midna floated out, her form getting slightly more corporeal, "Ahh, yes, hello sweet twilight." She floated right up to the black, "I can get you in, if you wanna go ahead and courageously die trying to save a place you've barely live in."

Sora watched her go in with a ripple that exposed all kinds of sienna designs. He walked up to it, stopping before he touched it, "M-Midna! Hey! You know I can't- AHHH!" Sora was dragged in by Midna's ponytail, a glowing orange hand vanishing and only leaving echoes of his startled cries.

* * *

Blehhhhh finally done with dungeon writing for now. Let me just say if it isn't obvious from the writing I really didn't enjoy having to cover a dungeon in writing (even if I skipped around!) In some news I have all 3 hours and 24 minutes of Twilight Symphony so I got some good music to write this with!

And no, I can't have a fic without Ven appearing for at least a cameo


End file.
